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NATION
Thinner Starbucks loses $6.7M
NEW YORK » Coffee chain
Starbucks Corp., which is closing stores and cutting office jobs amid weak sales in the U.S., posted a loss for its third quarter yesterday, lowered its outlook for the year and said it would open fewer new locations.
But the company kept its profit guidance intact for fiscal 2009, easing investors' fears about the economy's effect on the year ahead.
The Seattle-based company reported a loss of $6.7 million, or 1 cent a share, compared to a profit of $158.3 million, or 21 cents a share, a year earlier. Starbucks said it earned 16 cents a share once the costs for restructuring and closing stores are excluded.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected a profit of 18 cents a share on revenue of $2.61 billion.
Starbucks said revenue rose 9 percent to $2.57 billion from $2.36 billion, mainly from sales at international locations and new stores in the U.S. Same-store sales, or sales at stores open for at least a year, fell in the mid-single-digits in the United States.
Starbucks, which said earlier this year that it would close 600 underperforming stores in the U.S., announced this week that it was also shutting 61 stores in Australia and cutting 1,000 office jobs -- including 450 unfilled positions -- to reduce costs.
Disney net up despite economy
Walt Disney Co., the second-largest U.S. media company, said third-quarter profit rose 9 percent as its theme parks withstood the slowing U.S. economy and the ESPN sports network collected more subscriber fees.
Net income increased to $1.28 billion, or 66 cents a share, from $1.18 billion, or 57 cents, a year earlier, Burbank, Calif.-based Disney said. Profit minus some items totaled 62 cents, beating the 60-cent average of 18 analysts' estimates. Sales rose 2.1 percent to $9.24 billion in the quarter ended June 28.
Delta increases points for awards
Delta Air Lines Inc., the third-largest U.S. carrier, will require more frequent-flier points for certain award tickets and let passengers use the points to book the last seat on a plane.
Some reward tickets will cost 25,000 to 60,000 points for travel within the U.S. and Canada, an increase from the current range of 25,000 to 50,000, Atlanta-based Delta said. The changes take effect in September. The new policy adds a middle tier that requires 40,000 points or more round trip, and allows passengers to do combination tickets, such as economy class on one travel segment and first class on the return leg.
Visa profit up as card use rises
NEW YORK »
Visa Inc.'s profit rose a better-than-expected 41 percent in the most recent quarter, as more money changed hands using its credit and debit cards -- particularly outside the United States.
Visa said it earned $422 million, or 51 cents a share, for the April-to-June period. That is up from $299 million in the same period a year ago, before the company went public.
The results included litigation and restructuring costs. Excluding those costs, earnings per share amounted to 59 cents. Analysts had anticipated 48 cents per share, according to Thomson Financial.
Operating revenue rose to $1.61 billion, above the average analyst forecast, from $1.37 billion a year ago. The driver was a 19 percent jump in payments volume, or the amount of money spent using a Visa-branded product, to $652 billion.
HAWAII
Surf Line selects new CEO
Mark Tsuda has been named chief executive of
Surf Line Hawaii/Jams World, which marks the first time that someone from outside the family has occupied this level of management at the company.
Created by a surfing family in 1964, Jams surf shorts made their debut at Makaha Beach on Oahu. The surf-clothing pioneer, which remains locally owned and operated, still manufactures most of its products domestically and remains true to its philosophy of creating new ideas and styles based around a strong belief in freedom, difference, color and love.
As CEO of Surf Line Hawaii/Jams World, Tsuda will work alongside Chairman and President Pua Rochlen to assist him by running the company's day-to-day operations, including management of the sales and marketing efforts.
BUSINESS PULSE