BBBY Bed Bath and Beyond Inc

BED BATH & BEYOND

Retailer Falls Short of Expectations

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. posted earnings for its second quarter that failed to meet Wall Street expectations as comparable sales for the home-goods chain fell 1.2%.

Despite the soft quarter, the New Jersey-based company backed its profit forecast for the year, saying it continues to expect earnings in a range of $4.50 to about $5 a share.

Bed Bath & Beyond reported second-quarter profit of $167.3 million, or $1.11 a share, down from $201.7 million, or $1.21 a share, a year earlier. The company had roughly 10% fewer outstanding shares compared with the same period a year earlier. Sales edged down 0.2% to $2.99 billion. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had projected $1.16 a share of earnings on $3.05 billion in sales.

Sales at stores open for at least a year declined about 1.2%, compared with a year-earlier increase of 0.7% and analysts' projection for an increase of 0.4%, according to FactSet.

--Ezequiel Minaya

GENERAL MILLS

Yogurt Business Declines in U.S.

General Mills Inc.'s sales fell 7% to $3.9 billion in the latest quarter as its yogurt business plunged in the U.S., where shoppers are trading Yoplait for Greek-style brands.

Minneapolis-based General Mills has struggled to keep up with changing eating habits.

General Mills reported a profit of $409 million, or 67 cents a share, down from $426.6 million, or 69 cents a share, a year earlier. Adjusted for certain restructuring costs and other one-time items, per-share earnings fell to 78 cents from 79 cents. Analysts expected 75 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters.

--Annie Gasparro

AVIATION

Boeing, Airbus Win Right to Sell to Iran

The U.S. government has given plane makers Boeing Co. and Airbus Group SE the allclear to deliver jetliners to Iran Air in one of the highest-profile trade breakthroughs since nuclear sanctions were lifted on the Islamic Republic in January.

Western powers removed sanctions on Iran in return for the country agreeing to constrain its nuclear program. Business has been slow to materialize amid concern of running afoul of U.S. restrictions.

Iran Air announced in January it planned to buy Airbus planes, but the transaction stalled amid a lack of approvals from the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control rules. OFAC had to approve the license because a portion of Airbus planes are made in the U.S.

Boeing aims to sell 80 jets directly to Iran Air as part of a proposed deal valued at up to $17.6 billion. The Airbus deal had a list price value of $27 billion.

--Robert Wall and Doug Cameron

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 22, 2016 02:48 ET (06:48 GMT)

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