Airbus and Rolls-Royce said Thursday that flexible working agreements with unions have saved about 600 jobs. At Rolls-Royce plants in Derby and Hucknall, England, about 360 jobs were saved by an agreement under which employees will work up to 51 hours a year of unpaid overtime, and 1 percent of a 2.5 percent pay deal will be deducted and used to save jobs, the companies said. Airbus said the number of job cuts at its plant at Filton, near Bristol, will be reduced from 400 to 150 after workers accepted a package of flexibility measures aimed at reducing business costs. There will be no pay increase this year, a 2 percent increase next year, and time off will be taken in lieu of overtime.
Coffee retailer Starbucks Corp. reported a 40 percent jump in fiscal first quarter earnings, boosted in part by a one-time gain from selling a portion of the company’s investment in Starbucks Coffee Japan. The results beat Wall Street’s expectations. Starbucks said Thursday that for the first quarter ended Dec. 30, it had profits of $68.4 million, or 17 cents a share, compared with earnings of $49 million, or 12 cents a share, a year earlier. The results included a $13.4 million one-time gain from selling part of its stake in Starbucks Coffee Japan, its Japanese retail venture. Without the one-time gain, earnings were 15 cents a share, matching the forecast of analysts polled by Thomson Financial/First Call.
Kimberly-Clark Corp., which has pulp and paper products mills in Everett, said Thursday that fourth-quarter net income fell 21 percent as the maker of Huggies diapers and Kleenex tissue closed five plants and laid off 1,400 workers. Net income fell to $358.3 million, or 68 cents a share, from $455.7 million, or 85 cents a share, a year earlier. The company said sales rose 2 percent to $3.67 billion on higher sales of tissues. But sales to commercial customers such as hotels and office buildings continued to sag, falling 4.1 percent. Excluding plant closings and other charges, the paper-goods company said its operating profit slipped 8.5 percent, to $632.1 million, or 82 cents a share, from $690.7 million, or 87 cents a share a year earlier.
Fleming Cos. has resumed shipping products to Kmart Corp. after a bankruptcy court approved a payment of $76 million to the supplier, Fleming said Thursday. Fleming, the primary food and consumer products supplier to Kmart, was named a critical vendor by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois, where the nation’s third largest discounter filed for Chapter 11 on Tuesday. Bill Marquard, executive vice president of Fleming, said it will extend trade credit to Kmart on its weekly payment cycle.
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