Neiman Marcus’ new owners expected to add more stores
The private-equity firms that paid top dollar for Neiman Marcus Group Inc., an icon in luxury retailing, are betting consumers’ appetite for $400 shoes and $1,000 handbags won’t subside anytime soon.
Analysts say they expect Neiman’s new owners to speed up adding new stores and may even open foreign outposts.
The company has one store in Denver, at the Cherry Creek Shopping Center. It also has a Neiman Marcus Last Call clearance center at the Colorado Mills mall in Lakewood.
Neiman Marcus Group Inc. announced Monday it has agreed to sell its chain of luxury department stores to Texas Pacific Group and Warburg Pincus for about $5.1 billion in cash.
Neiman shares fell $5.36, or 5.5 percent, to close at $92.96 Monday on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares had gained more than one-third since mid-March, when the company announced it was considering putting itself up for sale, but the sale price of $100 per share was below estimates that Neiman could fetch $115 per share.
Albertsons workers approve labor deal
Unionized Albertsons employees last weekend approved a new labor contract with the chain. The deal is similar to ones previously approved by Safeway and King Soopers workers.
Employees of four Albertsons-owned Grocery Warehouse and Max Foods stores are still voting on their offer, and results for that group are expected this weekend.
Houlihan’s to open 8 eateries in metro area
Leawood-based Houlihan’s has announced plans to open eight restaurants in the Denver area. A company spokeswoman did not say when the franchised locations are expected to open. The company operates 77 restaurants in 21 states and Mexico.
Five inner-city firms get national ranking
Five companies from Denver were recently named to the ICIC-Inc. Magazine Inner City 100, a national ranking of fast-growing companies in inner cities across America.
The Denver companies included DocuVault, Environmental Demolition, Global Technology Resources, Optimum Management Systems and Reglera.
H-P, EMC agree to end patent litigation
Technology bellwethers EMC Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. announced Monday they’ve agreed to “amicably” dismiss four years of litigation over allegations of patent infringement between the two companies.
As part of the agreement, Palo Alto-based H-P will pay EMC $325 million or buy $325 million in EMC products over the next five years. The settlement also includes a five-year patent cross-license agreement between the two companies.
Retiring Harley chief has taken long view
Harley-Davidson Inc., with the longest streak of quarterly profit gains among manufacturing companies in the S&P 500 index, is more concerned about maintaining growth over years than in quarters, chairman Jeff Bleustein said.
Bleustein, 65, retired Saturday as chief executive of the largest U.S. motorcycle maker. During his tenure, Harley reported 29 straight quarters of growth in net income, starting in 1998’s first three months. This quarter, earnings per share are expected to fall to 79 cents, the average estimate of 18 analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial, from 83 cents a year earlier.
Saks expects sell-off to bring $130 million
Saks Inc. said Monday it estimates a gain of $130 million, before taxes, on the sale of its 47 stores in the Proffitt’s and McRae’s department-store chains.
The Birmingham, Ala., company announced Friday that it would sell the stores to privately held Belk Inc. for $622 million.
Enron witness recants last week’s testimony
In testimony that could damage the prosecution’s case against five former Enron Corp. broadband executives, a key government witness admitted Monday he was wrong when he testified last week that market analysts saw a damning videotape as part of an Enron presentation in 2000.
Prosecutors last week showed jurors what they said was a videotape of an Enron presentation to analysts in January 2000. In that video, a segment showing Enron executive Rex Shelby discussing capabilities of Enron’s broadband network as if it were up and running – when it wasn’t – abruptly appears between segments of former Enron chief executive Jeffrey Skilling discussing the operating system with analysts in the future tense.
GM vehicles, brakes subject of fed probe
The government has opened an investigation of more than 1.2 million General Motors Corp. pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles in 21 states amid questions about the vehicles’ anti lock brakes.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Monday that stopping distances may increase when the brakes are pumped at speeds under 10 mph because of the buildup of corrosion. NHTSA has reported nearly two dozen crashes, including one that involved six vehicles and four injuries because of the problem.
Morgan Stanley CEO keeps job; stocks fall
Investors hoping for big changes at Morgan Stanley made their disappointment known Monday, sending the Wall Street firm’s shares sharply lower two days after embattled chairman and chief executive Phil Purcell survived an emergency board meeting with his job intact.
The board also decided to make it easier to remove Purcell in the future – now requiring a simple majority vote rather than the three-quarters vote previously needed – but otherwise said no changes in management were necessary.
RockResorts, Walt Disney, Morningstar
Denver-based RockResorts announced Monday that it will manage the 56-room Lodge & Spa at Cordillera near Edwards … The Walt Disney Co. denied a report it is planning to build a theme park in India and that it has lobbied the government there on the matter … Chicago-based Morningstar Inc. priced its initial public offering of 7.6 million shares at $18.50 per share.
