More financial news
Consumer confidence climbs
The University of Michigan/Thomson Reuters Consumer Confidence Index rose in February to its highest level in a year with strong awareness of improved employment trends.
The index rose to 75.3 in February from 75 in January, achieving its sixth consecutive month of improvement.
“Consumers have shrugged off concerns about rising gas prices, the European crisis and election year politics, preferring to focus on the favorable impact of job growth. A potential threat is that consumers expect too much too soon. Improved job prospects may entice many more people to seek work, easily outstripping the number of new jobs created. While election year politics typically raise economic prospects, it may also increase the negative consequences if the promised gains fail to materialize. While growth prospects for consumer spending have improved, the new pace of gains may only edge up to a brisk walk, at best.” said Richard Curtin, the survey’s chief economist.
The most recent U.S. Labor Department report on employment indicated that nonfarm payrolls rose 243,000 in January, as the national unemployment rate fell to 8.3 percent.
However, consumers have “grim evaluations” of their personal finances, according to the survey. Specifically, when it comes to income, more households reported recent declines than gains.
Kohl’s cuts outlook for earnings
Menomonee Falls-based Kohl’s Corp. reported fourth quarter net income of $455 million, or $1.81 per share, compared with $494 million, or $1.66 per share, in the same period a year ago.
The retailer’s quarterly net sales remained flat at $6.1 million.
The company said it expects first-quarter earnings of 60 cents per share and 2012 earnings of $4.75 a share. Wall Street analysts had expected Kohl’s to earn 77 cents a share in the quarter and $4.93 a share in 2012.
“Overall we were disappointed in our performance last year,” said Kohl’s chief executive officer Kevin Mansell. “We are not generating enough new customers.”
Mansell said the company is pleased with the growth of its online business but not with the performance of its retail stores.
“2012 is really about improving the health of our core brick and mortar business and to get that business back on track,” Mansell said.
Thrivent continues to thrive
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans announced that its 2011 results led to the third-consecutive year of financial growth for the nonprofit Fortune 500 membership organization.
The company, which operates dual headquarters in Appleton and Minneapolis, reported that its sales, revenue, assets under management and total adjusted surplus all rose in 2011 and have continued to rise since 2008, despite turbulent economic and market conditions.|
Thrivent Financial’s statutory revenue climbed to $7.9 billion, up 6 percent over 2010, and assets under management rose to $75.8 billion, up almost 4 percent from the previous year.
"For the third consecutive year, Thrivent Financial produced outstanding results," said Brad Hewitt, president and CEO of Thrivent Financial. "We continue to grow while offering the ongoing strength and stability our members expect from us. Solid business performance and strong investment results are two of the drivers that helped us meet and exceed our target goals."
Thrivent has 121,464 member households in Wisconsin and 262 full-time field representatives in the state.
Life, health and annuity sales continued to be a major factor in helping Thrivent Financial attain strong results, rising 5 percent from 2010. Thrivent Financial’s life insurance in force now stands at $170.2 billion, 2 percent higher than in 2010.
Thrivent Financial and its members gave $175.5 million in direct support to charitable organizations, schools, congregations and individuals in need. In addition, the Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Foundation recently announced that it awarded $15.1 million in grants to Lutheran institutions nationwide and nonprofits in Minneapolis/St. Paul and the Fox Cities area.
"Our purpose is to help our members be wise with money and to inspire them to live generously," Hewitt said. "For more than 100 years, Thrivent Financial has helped its members achieve financial security and give back to their communities. Our ongoing strength and stability will allow us to be there for them for another 100 years."
Fiserv board authorizes stock repurchase
Brookfield-based Fiserv Inc., a global provider of financial services technology solutions, announced that its board of directors has authorized the repurchase of an additional 10 million shares of the company’s common stock, or approximately 7 percent of its outstanding shares.
Fiserv may repurchase shares in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions at the discretion of management, subject to its assessment of market conditions and other factors.
Fiserv is driving innovation in payments, processing services, risk and compliance, customer and channel management, and business insights and optimization.
Acuity reaches $1 billion in policyholders’ surplus
Policyholders’ surplus at Acuity grew to a record-high $1 billion in 2011, a 12.6 percent increase over the prior year, compared with a decrease in surplus at peer companies, the Sheboygan insurance company reported.
Acuity’s average surplus growth during the past decade is nearly three times that of industry averages, the company said. Additionally, Acuity recorded a leverage ratio of written premium-to-surplus of 0.92:1, the third consecutive year this ratio has been below 1:1.
Acuity is a property and casualty insurer that operates in 20 states, generates $840 million in revenue through 1,000 independent agencies, and manages $2.4 billion in assets.
Earnings fall at Journal Communications
Journal Communications Inc. reported fourth quarter net earnings of $8.2 million, or 14 cents per share, down from $14.7 million, or 26 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.
The Milwaukee-based parent company of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported quarterly revenues of $95.0 million, down from $103.7 million a year earlier.
"Excluding political and issue advertising, broadcast revenue grew 7.0 percent driven by the continued rebound in automotive advertising, up 11.3 percent in the quarter. On the publishing side, a challenging advertising revenue environment was offset by a solid increase in commercial print and distribution revenue. We continue to see declines in key advertising categories including classifieds. However, we saw a 7.6 percent increase in digital revenue across our businesses,” said Steven Smith, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Journal Communications. "We ended the year with outstanding borrowings under our credit facility of $41.3 million, a reduction of $33.3 million from the end of 2010, reflecting a leverage of less than one times EBITDA. This gives us the flexibility to use our strong balance sheet to invest in our business and grow through acquisition opportunities. Looking ahead to 2012, our goal is to continue to build our local market brands by providing relevant and differentiated content across our television, radio, digital and newspaper platforms. We will continue to focus on building local market share of advertising revenue and plan to take advantage of political and issue advertising in key battleground states such as Wisconsin and Nevada. Our priority in publishing is to continue to provide a significant, high impact daily newspaper and leverage our new JS Everywhere brand. We will introduce our new tablet application and mobile platform later this year, opening up additional growth opportunities for our digital business. We will continue to seek in-market growth opportunities in traditional or digital media, make capital investments that drive growth and look for broadcast acquisitions."
Growth continues for Outpost Natural Foods
Milwaukee-based Outpost Natural Foods, one of the nation’s largest food co-ops by sales volume, recently held its annual owners meeting, where it celebrated an 8 percent increase in revenues and annual sales of $31 million.
The growth in revenue resulted in a profitable year, which in turn provided rebates for the majority of Outpost’s 16,200 active owners, $190,000 in total profit sharing for employees, jobs growth of 7 percent and a record $96,000 given back to charitable community organizations.
Co-op patrons contributed more than $65,000 worth of natural and organic food donations to Hunger Task Force, setting a record for the co-op’s annual holiday food drive.
Outpost general manager Pam Mehnert said, “I think consumer co-ops like Outpost are doing well in this economy because people see the connection between our profits going back into the community and their support of our business. We are doing more business with local vendors and local service providers. We all benefit when we keep those dollars local.”
Of the Outpost’s 310 employees, 83 percent are represented by United Food & Commercial Workers Local #1473.
Outpost operates three locations in Milwaukee and plans to open a fourth in the lobby of Aurora Sinai Hospital in May.
