Best Buy revises profit forecast
RICHFIELD, Minn., Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Best Buy Co. Inc. says weak consumer spending has forced it to cut its profit and revenue forecasts for fiscal 2008.
The nation's largest consumer electronics retailer now expects to earn $3.05 to $3.10 per share, down from its previous estimate of $3.10 to $3.20 a share, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported Saturday.
"The macro-economic environment grew more challenging after the holidays," interim Chief Financial Officer Jim Muehlbauer said in a statement released Friday from Best Buy's Richfield, Minn., headquarters. "Our post-holiday results are not going to be what we originally expected."
The company's shares fell 2.5 percent to close Friday at $44.62 while its stock has dropped 16 percent since December. Best Buy still plans to open 85 to 100 stores in the United States and 40 to 50 stores overseas by next year, Muehlbauer said.
Wilsons Leather to close up to 160 stores
MINNEAPOLIS, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Wilsons the Leather Experts Inc. says it will close up to 160 stores and focus its remaining 100 mall locations on fashion accessories for women.
"The decision to take these actions, while very difficult, is the right move for the future of Wilsons Leather," said Mike Searles, Wilsons' chief executive officer. "Initial test results for the accessories business in our new concept stores are very exciting and we look forward to rolling out this concept soon."
The plan, to be completed by August, calls for eliminating nearly 1,000 jobs including 64 jobs at Wilsons headquarters in Brooklyn Park, Minn., The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.
Wilsons, which has shown stronger sales in recent months, last June received $45 million for preferred shares from a group of investors led by Goldner Hawn Private Equity, The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported Saturday.
Wilsons' retooling follows similar plans by AnnTaylor Stores Corp. and Talbots Inc., among other retailers, the Pioneer Press reported.
More old U.S. cars going to Mexico
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Environmentalists say falling trade barriers are sending millions of polluting older U.S. vehicles south of the border to rumble anew in Mexico.
It's estimated more than 3 million late-model cars and trucks have been legally sold in Mexico in the last 2 1/2 years and millions more are headed south because of the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.
NAFTA officially requires Mexico to begin opening its market to some used vehicles from the U.S. and Canada next year. Former Mexican President Vicente Fox sped up the process in August 2005 when he agreed to allow the import of vehicles 10 to 15 years old. That decree was modified this year to allow imports of only 1998 models for the rest of 2008.
The import of roomy used U.S. cars has meant a slump in sales in Mexico for new cars meeting stricter environmental standards, the Times reported.
"The U.S. sends us junk, and Mexico sends back pollution," said Alma Leticia Figueroa Jimenez, the former head of ecology for Ciudad Juarez.
India, Pakistan to increase flights
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- India and Pakistan say they plan to increase commercial flights and expand the number of destinations between the two countries.
The plan calls for doubling to 24 the number of weekly flights between India and Pakistan and allowing more airlines to fly between the Indian cities of New Delhi and Mumbai and the Pakistani cities of Lahore and Karachi, the BBC reported Saturday.
Currently, only one airline from each country -- Indian Airlines and Pakistan International Airways -- flies between the four cities, the BBC said.
The agreement signed in Islamabad is part of a peace process initiated in 2003 to improve trade and cultural ties between the two countries, formed in 1947 in the violent partition of British India, the BBC reported.
