Page 6 - ARUBA BANK 27 FEB 2016

BUSINESS A25
Saturday 27 February 2016

Royal Bank of Scotland posts 8th straight year of losses

DANICA KIRKA bank reported a fourth insurance to people who rowed to 1.98 billion pounds do not expect any resump-
Associated Press quarter net loss of 2.74 bil- didn’t need it. from 3.47 billion pounds for tion in the sale of govern-
LONDON (AP) — Investors lion pounds ($3.8 billion), CEO Ross McEwan says the 2014. ment stakes of RBS or Lloyds
punished the Royal Bank down from 5.79 billion bank is “working through Once the world’s largest soon.
of Scotland on Friday for pounds from the same pe- as many of the remaining bank, RBS was bailed out Taxpayers own around
pushing dividend pay- riod a year earlier, as it set conduct and restructuring during the 2008 financial 9 percent of Lloyds and
ments into the future as the aside another 2.1 billion issues as we can.” crisis and has been posting around 73 percent of RBS.
cost of past conduct issues pounds for past miscon- “This is a tough but impor- annual losses ever since. Laith Khalaf, a senior ana-
led it to its eighth consecu- duct. The loss was driven by tant part of our plan and Treasury chief George Os- lyst at Hargreaves Land-
tive annual loss. Shares in costs relating to litigation we are determined to get borne suspended sale of sown, said the bank had
the taxpayer-owned bank over mortgage-backed through it as quickly as pos- the government stake in “kicked the prospect of a
plunged 8 percent. securities and provisions for sible,” he said. Lloyds Banking Group due dividend firmly into the long
The sell-off came as the selling payment protection For the year, losses nar- to market turmoil. Analysts grass.”q

J.C. Penney’s shares rise after upbeat revenue outlook

A. D’INNOCENZIO 2015, after a nine-month Shoppers visit a J.C. Penney store in New York. The Texas-based like St. John’s Bay and Roy
AP Retail Writer transition period work- retailer reported quarterly financial results, Friday, Feb. 26, 2016. Velvet have helped win
NEW YORK (AP) — Beware ing closely with Myron Ull- shoppers back. The com-
the underdog. man, who returned to the (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) pany is also accelerating
J.C. Penney Co. delivered top CEO spot in April 2013 the rollout of shops within
strong fourth-quarter re- when the board fired Ron income shoppers with an being selective. its stores devoted to the
sults, wrapping up a year Johnson. Johnson got rid annual average household Ellison told investors during Sephora beauty brand. It
when it stole market share of most promotions and re- income of $60,000. a conference call Friday added 28 last year for a to-
over rivals. placed with it everyday low J.C. Penney still has a long that it’s evident that Pen- tal of more than 500 shops,
The company, based in prices and swapped basics way to go before it can ney gained market share in a big chunk of the 800-store
Plano, Texas, also offered for trendy assortments in a claim a full recovery. The 2015. fleet. But this year, it plans
an upbeat sales outlook, bid to grab higher-income, company posted annual “Our ability to gain share to add 60.
as efforts to spruce up its younger shoppers. sales of $12.6 billion for the in a relatively flat to nega- Sephora was a top selling
merchandise is winning Ullman stabilized the busi- year ended Jan. 30, up 3 tive retail market is not ac- area for the holiday shop-
over shoppers. Investors ness by bringing back dis- percent from the prior year. cidental,” he said. He also ping season as well as
cheered, pushing shares counts and restoring store But that’s still far below the assured analysts that the handbags, home and fur-
up 12 percent by midday label merchandise, but nearly $18 billion in annual company is testing differ- nishings and shoes.
Friday. Ellison’s goal is to expand revenue once booked ent initiatives before rolling Elllison noted all of its cloth-
The results were a bright sales and remake the com- right before Johnson came them out. ing businesses enjoyed
spot in an otherwise dismal pany to be more nimble. to the helm in November Penney had learned pain- positive results despite un-
holiday quarter, where de- The company is playing 2011. ful lessons from Johnson seasonably warm weather
partment store rivals like catch up in e-commerce, But Penney is making some who rolled out the bold that plagued many retail-
Macy’s and Kohl’s offered including rolling out services good progress given a pricing strategy without ers including Macy’s.
disappointing outlooks af- that allow online shoppers tough environment, partic- testing in the stores. Penney posted a 4.1 per-
ter struggling with weak to pick up at the stores. It’s ularly in department store Ellison said the re-establish- cent increase in revenue
sales. also using its store label of- arena, where shoppers are ment of key private brands at stores opened at least a
It was a reversal of fortunes ferings as a key weapon to year. That metric dropped
this critical holiday season fight against pricing pres- 4.3 percent at Macy’s. At
for Penney, which is claw- sures from online rivals. It’s Kohl’s, the measure was
ing its way back from a also testing appliances and just up 0.4 percent, while
failed reinvention plan that just rolled out a new cam- at upscale Nordstrom, the
caused catastrophic losses paign called “Get Your measure was down 3.2 per-
and plunging sales. Penney’s Worth,” which cent.
And the latest perfor- will offer certain store la- Penney said it lost $131 mil-
mance offers encouraging bel items for pennies. Elli- lion, or 43 cents per share,
news that a transformation son noted that the Penney in the fourth-quarter. That
by CEO Marvin Ellison is in campaign should help to compares with a loss of
the works. Ellison officially broaden its demographic, $35 million, or 11 cents per
took the helm in August which centers on middle- share. a year ago. q

Gap’s shares fall in late trading on weak profit outlook

A. D’INNOCENZIO strong U.S. dollar and stra- out a fat discount. The Navy, resigned to take the great deal of urgency,”
AP Retail Writer tegic moves to turn around company has been long CEO job at Ralph Lauren Peck told investors dur-
NEW YORK (AP) — Gap’s its ailing business. plagued by poor fit and Corp. Gap is still looking for ing a conference call on
shares took a hit late in af- The results show the con- quality. Even Old Navy, a successor. Thursday. “I know what this
ter-hours trading Thursday tinued challenges facing until recently a bright spot, Then, soon after, the cre- company is capable of at
after the clothing chain of- CEO Art Peck, who took saw its business falter in the ative director for the Ba- our best. I know what these
fered a weak profit outlook. over the helm a year ago. last few quarters. nana Republic brand, Ma- brands are capable at
The outlook came as the The company has worked Gap has also had some rissa Webb, who was hired their best. I and my team
San Francisco-based chain to improve its fashions and management upheaval. to re-energize Banana Re- are focused on not just
reported a 33 percent drop trimmed its fleet last year. Last fall, Old Navy President public, stepped down after achieving that for a mo-
in fourth-quarter profits But it hasn’t been able to Stefan Larsson, who spear- dismal results. ment, but achieving that
asbusiness was hurt by a get shoppers to buy with- headed the growth of Old “My team and I have a with consistency.”q