Business briefs: Downtown site launched for Everett activities
Published 7:04 pm Thursday, April 8, 2010
A new Web site billed as a comprehensive guide to Everett’s downtown was launched Thursday by Skotdal Real Estate. DowntownEverett.com will offer visitors a look at events, retailers and other businesses, restaurants and activities, said Craig Skotdal. He said he patterned the site off successful neighborhood portals across the country. He said he wanted to showcase the downtown and encourage people to live there. Skotdal, who company owns a significant amount of downtown real estate, recently opened an apartment building adjacent to the library.
Number of layoffs rise more than expected
The number of newly laid-off workers seeking unemployment benefits rose last week, a sign that jobs remain scarce even as the economy recovers. The increase also may result from the difficulty the Labor Department has in seasonally adjusting the claims around the Easter holiday, which falls on different weeks each year. “This is … a volatile time when the numbers move around quite a bit,” a department analyst said. The Labor Department said Thursday that first-time claims increased by 18,000 in the week ended April 3, to a seasonally adjusted 460,000. That’s worse than economists’ estimates of a drop to 435,000, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters.
Nordstrom posts strong March sales
Nordstrom Inc.’s sales in stores open at least a year rose 16.8 percent in March, much higher than analysts expected. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, on average, expected sales in stores open at least one year to rise 10.6 percent. Sales at stores open at least a year are a key measure of retailer performance because they measure growth at existing stores rather than from newly opened ones. The upscale retailer’s total sales for five weeks ended April 3 soared 20.9 percent to $815 million from $674 million in the same period last year. The strongest regions were the Northeast, Midwest and Mid-Atlantic. Best-selling merchandise categories were fashion jewelry, dresses and women’s shoes, the company said.
Yum Brands CEO pay drops 45 percent
The chief executive for the company that owns KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut received compensation the restaurant company valued at $9.6 million during the most recent fiscal year, a decrease of 45 percent as sales edged down, according to a regulatory filing. David Novak, who is also chairman and president of the Yum Brands Inc., earned $17.4 million in 2008. In 2009, he received a base salary of $1.4 million, up less than 1 percent from a year before. But the value of his performance-based bonus, about $3 million, was 26 percent less than 2008’s $4.1 million. The bulk of the 57-year-old’s compensation — and the biggest reason for his compensation decline, came from restricted stock and options valued at $4.9 million. That’s about 58 percent less than the $11.7 million he received in 2008.
From Herald news services
