In Brief

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Sep 6, 2007

Ace Hardware shortfall

Ace Hardware Corp. discovered an approximately $154 million shortfall on its books while preparing to convert from retailer- owned cooperative to for-profit corporation and likely will have to restate its financial results for the past five years, President and CEO Ray Griffith said Wednesday. Ace has called off the conversion plan and hired an audit consulting firm to help rectify an accounting problem which appears to date to 2002, Griffith said. The company may have to forgo returning profits to store owners this year as a result, he said. He said no money or inventory is missing, but the Oak Brook, Ill.-based company has not been able to determine the source of what he characterized as a "significant accounting error."

-- Associated Press

J.C. Penney sales slip

August sales at J.C. Penney Co. slipped 1.1 percent and same- store sales fell 4 percent, but that was a smaller decline than the department store company had forecast. Penney said monthly results were distorted by a change in the calendar that moved sales from the first few days of August into the July reporting period, when same- store sales jumped 10.8 percent. The company had predicted that same- store sales in the four weeks ended Sept. 1 would fall by mid- to high-single-digit percentage points.

-- Associated Press

Small gain in Costco sales

Costco Wholesale Corp., the largest U.S. warehouse retail chain, and BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. reported August sales that trailed analysts' estimates, sending the shares of both companies lower. August sales at Costco stores open at least a year rose 2 percent, and BJ's posted a 1.4 percent gain, the companies said Wednesday in separate statements. Costco fell the most in more than two years in Nasdaq trading. BJ's, the third-largest U.S. warehouse chain, said sales suffered because of lower gasoline prices this year.

-- Bloomberg News Service

Countrywide to trim 900 more jobs

Struggling mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp. said Wednesday that it will cut about 900 more jobs nationwide, primarily from its mortgage production divisions. The cuts followed the elimination of about 500 positions last month. The latest layoffs came in response to the troubled housing market and economic conditions, Calabasas-based Countrywide said in a statement.

-- Associated Press

Aviation

BOEING PUTS OFF 787 DEBUT FLIGHT: Boeing Co. will not begin test flights of its new 787 jetliner until mid-November or mid-December, months later than originally planned, because it's taking longer than anticipated to get the first plane ready, the company said Wednesday.

Boeing initially aimed to begin flight testing within a monthlong window beginning in late August, but early last month, it acknowledged that the first flight might not happen until October.

-- Associated Press

Autos

AUTOMAKER TO OFFER FINANCING INCENTIVE: Chrysler LLC will offer six-year, no-interest loans and cash rebates on some of its 2007 models, a day after reporting its first revenue drop since being taken over by private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP.

The offer starts today and runs through Oct. 1, Chrysler spokeswoman Lori Pinter said in an interview. The new incentives are in addition to five-year, no-interest loans Auburn Hills, Mich.- based Chrysler will continue to offer on some models.

The third-largest U.S. automaker, shed by DaimlerChrysler AG, is trying to boost U.S. sales of its cars and trucks after a 6.1 percent decline in August reported Tuesday. For the first eight months of the year, Chrysler sales have slipped 2.7 percent. Ford Motor Co.'s fell 12.5 percent and General Motors Corp.'s dropped 7.4 percent.

-- Bloomberg News Service