Executive Business Briefing

Here is a look at more of Thursday's top business stories:

American International posts higher results

NEW YORK, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- American International Group Inc., the world's largest insurer by market value, said its fourth quarter net income rose 3.5 percent to $1.87 billion, or 70 cents a share, from $1.80 billion, or 68 cents a share during the same period a year earlier.

Core income increased 10.3 percent to $1.98 billion, or 75 cents a share, from $1.79 billion, or 68 cents a share in the fourth quarter of 2000.

The latest results included 3 cents a share related to Enron surety losses and a provision for Northridge earthquake claims.

Core income without the impact of Enron surety losses and 21st Century earthquake losses, but including the American General home services business amounts to 80 a share.

Core income is net income as reported adjusted to exclude the cumulative effect of accounting changes.

Fourth quarter revenues rose 8.3 percent to $16.69 billion from $15.41 billion in the year earlier quarter.

AIG Chairman M.R. Greenberg said, "AIG had a satisfactory fourth quarter and a strong full year 2001, a year of unprecedented challenges to our industry, nation and the global economy."

AIG said its worldwide general insurance net premiums written grew 15.4 percent in the fourth quarter to $5.20 billion.

In the United States, its domestic brokerage group had record net premiums written of $3.03 billion, an increase of 26.6 percent in the fourth quarter.

"United Guaranty Corp., our mortgage guaranty insurance subsidiary, had another very good quarter, benefiting from a robust housing market buoyed by low interest rates," Greenberg added.

Target expects to top Wall Street estimates

MINNEAPOLIS, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- Target Corp., the nation's third-largest discount chain, said its fiscal fourth quarter net income will handily beat Wall Street's expectations.

The retailer also reported a 5.8 percent increase in January sales at stores open at least a year.

Target said it expects to post a fourth quarter net income of at least 72 cents a share, up from the 61 cents a share posted in the fourth quarter a year earlier.

Analysts on Wall Street were expecting the retailer to post a net income of 67 cents a share, according to Thomson Financial/First Call.

"Sales for the corporation were above plan in January, reflecting continuing strength at Target stores," said Bob Ulrich, chairman and chief executive.

Net retail sales for the four weeks ended Feb. 2 declined 9 percent to $2.54 billion from $2.79 billion for the five weeks ended Feb. 3, 2001.

Excluding the extra week in last year's results, total sales increased 13.5 percent and comparable-store sales rose 5.8 percent.

For January, the company's Target discount stores division showed a 7.6 percent increase in same-store sales. Its Mervyn's department stores division posted a 3.3 percent decline and its Marshall Field's department stores posted a 4.7 percent drop.

Target operates 1,381 stores in 47 states. This included 1,053 Target stores, 264 Mervyn's stores and 64 Marshall Field's stores.

Hasbro posts profit

PAWTUCKET, R.I., Feb. 7 (UPI) -- Hasbro Inc., the nation's second largest toymaker, said it posted a fourth quarter net income of $52.5 million, or 30 cents a diluted share, compared with a net loss of $180.1 million, or $1.05 a diluted share during the same period a year earlier.

Hasbro, which makes Pokemon, Tonka and Tiger Electronics toys and games, said its year ago results included $146.1 million of pretax charges related to a consolidation program and the write-down of $44.0 million related to the sale of Hasbro Interactive and Games.com.

Analysts on Wall Street had expected Hasbro to post a net income of 37 cents a share, according to Thomson Financial/First Call.

Revenue declined to $988.7 million from $1.2 billion a year earlier.

"2001 was a year of significant accomplishments for Hasbro. We delivered on our commitment to return to profitability this year, in spite of a very challenging economic and retail environment, particularly in the fourth quarter," said Alan G. Hassenfeld, chairman and CEO.

"As we previously stated, we became a smaller but more profitable company in 2001, as we continued to reduce our dependency on major licensing products. In addition, we delivered a strong portfolio of products in Hasbro owned and controlled brands during the second half of the year," Hassenfeld said.

Alfred J. Verrecchia, president and COO, said, "We are confident that we are making the right moves to make Hasbro leaner and more consistently profitable for our shareholders.

"Going forward, we continue to believe we can grow the business three to five percent per annum and we expect operating margins to return to historical levels of 10 to 11 percent by 2003 and would anticipate doing better in the long term. However, we continue to be concerned with the retail and economic environment in the first half of the year," Verrecchia added.

Polo Ralph Lauren posts lower results

NEW YORK, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- Apparel maker Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. said its fiscal third quarter net income for the period ended Dec. 29 fell to $43.7 million, or 44 cents a share, from $50.6 million, or 52 cents a share during the same period a year earlier.

Analysts on Wall Street had expected the company to post a net income of 44 cents a share, according to Thomson Financial/First Call.

The company said its revenue improved to $617.1 million from $613.7 million in the prior year's third quarter as strong European sales of Ralph Lauren brands were offset by softness in the domestic specialty retail environment.

"I believe our company is in the strongest position ever," said Chairman and CEO Ralph Lauren.

"With a strong organization in place to support our vision, I believe we now are capable of growing our company to a larger global scale in 2002 and beyond," he said.

Roger Farah, president and COO, said, "I am pleased with our results and management's focus during a difficult retail holiday season. In keeping with our cautious short-term outlook, we took aggressive action in the quarter to maintain our strong financial position and asset flexibility. We kept product flow fresh during the quarter, we improved our inventory position, we further reduced our net long-term debt to less than one percent of our equity and, when needed, we took appropriate markdowns to keep our inventory clean."

Looking ahead the company said it expects fiscal 2002 earnings per share in the range of $1.65 to $1.75 driven by low-single digit revenue growth.

"While our industry continues to face a softer retail environment and cautious consumer spending, we continue to manage our company with the long-term goal of increasing our earnings from 10 to 15 percent," Farah added.

Earnings jump 33 percent at Coors

GOLDEN, Colo., Feb. 7 (UPI) -- Adolph Coors Co., the nation's third largest brewing company, said it fourth quarter net income including special items jumped 33 percent to $15.9 million, or 44 cents a diluted share, from $12.0 million, or 32 cents, during the same period a year earlier.

Excluding special items and gains on the sale of distributorships, Coors said its net income rose to $17.9 million, or 49 cents a share, from $15.2 million, or 40 cents a share, a year earlier.

Coors said its net sales slipped 4.1 percent to $558.4 million.

Peter H. Coors, chairman, said, "Overall, 2001 was a tough year for Coors. Regional weakness in the domestic beer industry and category distractions from new products made it difficult to establish significant momentum on sales and volume, particularly in the first three quarters of the year. In addition, higher labor, packaging-material and energy costs put pressure on our margins for most of the year.

"Nonetheless, we made substantial progress in the fourth quarter on a number of important fronts, including Coors Light sales momentum and distribution efficiencies. Our goal is to capitalize on the momentum established late in 2001, get our U.S. sales back on track for 2002, and continue to reduce costs in key areas of our company," he said.

W. Leo Kiely III, president and CEO, said, "As challenging as 2001 was for Coors, we're starting 2002 with better top-line momentum and continued focus on reducing production costs.

"Using comparable time periods, domestic U.S. sales to retail grew about 2 percent in the fourth quarter, with Coors Light growing even faster. For the last two months of 2001, our domestic business and Coors Light both achieved mid-single-digit growth rates in sales to retail -- and this retail momentum has continued into the first few weeks of 2002," Kiely added.

The company said earlier this week that it has completed its $1.7 billion acquisition of Carling and other assets from Belgian brewer Interbrew. The deal, its first major move abroad, makes Coors the second-largest brewer in the United Kingdom.

Sales fall at Gap

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- Gap Inc. said its sales for the four week selling period ended Feb. 2 fell to $684 million from $719 million during the same period a year earlier.

The company's comparable store sales, or sales at stores open one year, dropped 16 percent.

"Overall, January sales results came in close to our beginning of month projections," said CFO Heidi Kunz.

"As expected, results were driven by the continued clearance of holiday merchandise as we made room for initial spring product. Although merchandise margins met expectations, they were well below last year due to both lower markdown margins and higher sales at markdown," Kunz said.

Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, Kunz said, "We expect to report a loss per share of 3 to 5 cents a share."

The company also announced it expects to end the fourth quarter with a cash position of more than $800 million and a total debt of about $2.0 billion, below the previous guidance of $2.2 billion.

In addition, capital expenditures are expected to be about $1.0 billion for 2001 and about $400 million for 2002, which is well below initial guidance of $600 million to $650 million.

Gap, which operates 4,171 stores, will report fourth quarter results on Feb. 27.

Kohl's posts higher sales

MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis., Feb. 7 (UPI) -- Kohl's Corp. said its total sales for the four week selling period ended Feb. 2, jumped 28.3 percent from the same period a year earlier while comparable store sales increased 11.5 percent.

Due to a shift in the fiscal accounting calendar, January has four weeks this year compared to five weeks last year.

On this basis, comparing the four weeks ended Feb. 2, 2002, with the five weeks ended Feb. 3, 2001: Total sales increased 3.4 percent.

Kohl's operates 382 stores.