Zumiez stores beat August sales targets
Published 11:13 pm Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Zumiez Inc. of Everett said its August sales leaped to $47 million, or nearly 40 percent better than the same month last year. That total included an impressive 17 percent increase in same-store sales, a figure many analysts expected to be approximately 9 percent. Trevor Lang, Zumiez’s chief financial officer, said the August start of the Labor Day weekend, a big back-to-school shopping period, helped improve the month’s sales.
Bothell biotech forms partnership
Bothell-based Helix BioMedix and Goldschmidt GmbH, a subsidiary of Degussa GmbH and a manufacturer of cosmetic ingredients, announced an alliance Wednesday that will make Degussa Goldschmidt the exclusive marketer of Helix’s anti-aging peptides. Helix said it and Degussa Goldschmidt are looking at several peptides, which are wound-healing proteins, that could be used in skin care products.
Euro central bank may hold rates
The European Central Bank said Wednesday that volatility in the money markets has increased and it is prepared to “act accordingly,” a sign that it could lower its benchmark interest rate. The bank did not explain why it issued the statement, a surprise that caught markets off-guard on the eve of a meeting at which its top policymakers are expected to review rates. A few weeks ago, analysts said the bank could raise it benchmark rate from 4 percent but that view had changed more recently with most betting it would hold rates steady.
Mortgage insurer drops takeover bid
Mortgage insurer MGIC Investment Corp. abandoned its $5 billion bid to buy rival Radian Group Inc. on Wednesday, saying it was in each other’s best interest. Radian had vowed to see the deal through in August. But chief executive S.A. Ibrahim said on Wednesday he didn’t want to fight and needed to weather “an industrywide scramble to survive.”
Palm dumps derided Foleo
Palm Inc. has canceled plans to release a laptop-like gadget that was supposed to serve as a smart-phone companion, months after the product was announced and ridiculed by analysts. The Foleo, which had been slated to ship this summer, looked like a small notebook PC with a 10-inch screen, full-sized keyboard and Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capabilities. It ran on a version of the Linux operating system and did not have a hard drive. Analysts dissed the Foleo, questioning why consumers would want to carry yet another device.
Lawyers allege BP caused explosion
The deadly explosion at BP PLC’s Texas City, Texas, plant was a result of unsafe working conditions caused by the oil giant’s appetite for profits, an attorney for four workers said Wednesday in a trial stemming from the 2005 accident. An attorney for BP told jurors that the oil company didn’t knowingly put workers at risk. The March 23, 2005, explosion killed 15 workers and injured more than 170 others. Lawyers allege BP ignored routine maintenance, overworked employees and failed to install safer equipment.
From Herald staff and news services
