Earnings Roundup: Coldwater Creek’s profit falls

Coldwater Creek Inc. reported lower second quarter earnings, with company officials citing a difficult national environment for specialty clothing sales.

The Sandpoint retailer of women’s apparel reported earnings of $8.7 million, or 9 cents per share, during the three-month period ending Aug. 4. Coldwater Creek posted net income of $12 million, or 13 cents per share, during the same period last year.

Net sales for the period increased 17 percent to $253.5 million.

A highlight during the second quarter was the chain’s ability to manage the flow of inventory through Coldwater Creek’s retail stores, said Georgia Shonk-Simmons, president and chief merchandising officer. On a square-foot basis, retail store inventory dropped by 14 percent compared to the prior year, she said.

“Hurt by an inventory writedown, digital video recorder provider TiVo Inc. posted Wednesday a wider-than-expected loss for its fiscal second quarter.

In the three months ended July 31, the Alviso, Calif.-based company said it recorded a net loss of $17.7 million, or 18 cents per share, which included a $11.2 million inventory purchase charge it had not accounted for when it earlier predicted a $5 million to $8 million loss for the quarter. In the year-ago period, the company lost $6.4 million, or 7 cents per share.

Revenue rose 6 percent to $62.7 million.

Shares of TiVo closed at $6.20, up 18 cents, but fell 35 cents, nearly 6 percent, after posting its results.

“DaimlerChrysler AG said Wednesday that its second-quarter profit fell 14 percent and disclosed plans to spend about $10.2 billion buying back nearly 10 percent of its shares as it moves forward without its Chrysler division.

DaimlerChrysler’s profit decline excluding results from Chrysler and its finance arm – which did better in the latest quarter than a year ago – was a steeper 20 percent. The automaker said it earned 1.44 billion euros ($1.91 billion) excluding the operations it sold, compared to 1.8 billion euros a year earlier.

DaimlerChrysler also said it expects vehicle sales to be in line with the 2.1 million it sold in 2006, with revenue on par with the 99 billion euros it reported last year.

The company sold the Chrysler group and North American financial services units to Cerberus Capital Management LLC earlier this month in a $7.4 billion deal that saw the private equity group take an 80.1 percent stake in Chrysler.

“Lego Group reported 5 percent revenue growth in the first half of the year due to higher sales of classic products like its city, technic and Star Wars lines. The toy maker also raised its full-year earnings forecast.

Lego, known for its colorful plastic building blocks, said Wednesday that pretax profit in the first six months rose 3 percent to 173 million kroner ($32 million) from 168 million kroner in the same period in 2006. The privately owned group does not release quarterly figures and reports net profit only in its full-year report.

Sales increased to 2.96 billion kroner ($542 million) from 2.82 billion kroner in the first half of 2006. Sales to the American market rose “especially well.”

Lego’s strong results came amid troubles for the world’s largest toy maker, Mattel Inc., which has recalled almost 19 million dolls, cars and action figures made in China because they contained lead paint or tiny magnets that could damage organs if swallowed by children.

Analysts said, however, that Lego’s success was more about its strong product lineup and new toys.