Wal Mart Stores

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BENTONVILLE, Ark. - Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, said yesterday that its first-quarter profit rose 15 percent, bolstered by cost cutting and rising currencies. Sales increased at the slowest pace in more than a decade. Profit from continuing operations climbed to $1.83 billion, or 41 cents a share, from $1.6 billion, or 36 cents, a year earlier, Wal-Mart said. Excluding results from the McLane distribution unit that Wal-Mart is selling to Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., sales increased 9.7 percent to $56.7 billion in the three months that ended April 30. Chief Executive Officer H. Lee Scott is cutting costs by buying more goods directly from manufacturers.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Federated Department Stores Inc. said yesterday that post-Christmas sales weren't strong enough to cushion the worst holiday shopping season in more than three decades. Wal-Mart said sales at stores open at least a year rose as little as 2 percent, the low end of its forecast. Results for the November-December holiday period at Macy's parent Federated will fall about 4.5 percent, a steeper decline than expected. J.C. Penney Co. said same-store sales at its department stores rose 4.5 percent in December.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. - Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, said yesterday that its second-quarter earnings rose 26 percent as cost-conscious consumers turned to the discount chain for low-priced goods. Net income increased to $2.04 billion, or 46 cents a share, from $1.62 billion, or 36 cents, a year earlier, the company said in a statement. Sales rose 13 percent to $59.7 billion in the quarter, which ended July 31. The retailer faced less competition from bankrupt Kmart Corp.

TROY, Mich. - Kmart Corp., the largest U.S. retailer to file for bankruptcy, said it had a loss of $137 million last month as same-store sales fell. The loss for the period that ended June 26 included reorganization expenses of $11 million for professional fees and $8 million in retention bonuses, Kmart said in a regulatory filing. That brings to $2.26 billion the discount retailer's loss since it filed for bankruptcy protection Jan. 22. Same-store sales, excluding 283 stores that Kmart finished closing June 2, dropped 8.7 percent in the period that ended July 3. The discount retailer filed for Chapter 11 after a failed attempt to win business by matching the low prices of larger rival Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Sales at Wal-Mart stores open at least a year, called same-stores sales, rose 8.7 percent in June.

BENTONVILLE, Ark.- Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s same-store sales rose 6.2 percent last month, more than the world's largest retailer had forecast, as it gained sales at the expense of department stores and grocery chains. The retailer said yesterday that sales in the four weeks that ended Friday rose 12 percent to $18.34 billion. Last month, Wal-Mart forecast a 4 percent to 6 percent rise in sales at stores open at least a year. Sales of seasonal items such as gardening equipment and summer clothing rose over the Memorial Day holiday as temperatures rose after falling below average in the first three weeks of the month, analysts said.

Decades before taking the crown as the unrivaled king of retailing, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. looked to its then-bigger competitor, Kmart Corp., to learn the do's and don'ts of discount selling. Kmart, now cash strapped and No. 3 in discount retailing, filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday, in no small part because of crushing competition from Wal-Mart. Michigan-based Kmart said it plans to close an undetermined number of its 2,100 stores this year. But more than competition is to blame for Kmart's fall.

A surge of last-minute Christmas shopping and post-holiday bargain hunting helped ward off what could have been a most disappointing holiday retail season. Instead, retailers pulled through the crucial shopping season with an average December sales rise of 2.3 percent, which was merely the smallest year-over-year increase in five years, according to monthly sales figures released yesterday. The figures are gleaned from an index of 84 major U.S. chains by Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi. Despite a recession and continued job layoffs, consumers were willing to spend.

A slowdown in consumer spending that worsened after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks left a majority of national retail chains with dismal sales last month - the weakest performance of any September in three decades. Many of the national chains, which reported monthly sales yesterday, warned of weaker-than-expected third-quarter profits and said they'd been forced to trim expenses and cut back on inventory. Sales rose a modest 0.8 percent in September, led by Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which posted a 6.3 percent sales gain in stores open at least a year, according to the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi's index of 78 chain stores.

Four people accused of going on a shoplifting spree were charged with theft and conspiracy after one left behind a jacket with an identification card at the Wal-Mart in Mount Airy, authorities said. "It makes it easier for us," Lt. Terry L. Katz, commander of the Maryland State Police at the Westminster barracks, said of the ID card. Store employees told police that a man and three women left the store Sunday afternoon with $762 in merchandise, and a second shopping cart with items purchased with a store credit - from a returned blanket that employees suspected had been stolen previously.