Limited Inc

Limited Inc. said first-quarter profit rose 62% on lower costs, and the second-largest U.S. clothing retailer changed its name to Limited Brands to reflect its apparel, lingerie and cosmetics businesses. Net income increased to $49.9million, or 10 cents a share, the owner of Limited and Express stores said. Revenue fell 4.7% to $2.03 billion, reduced by the sale of the Lane Bryant chain in August. Limited kept inventory lean, brought in new goods more quickly and slowed hiring.

Charming Shoppes Inc., operator of Fashion Bug and Catherine's Plus Sizes clothing stores, agreed to acquire Limited Inc.'s Lane Bryant plus-size chain for $335 million in cash and stock. After the purchase, Charming Shoppes will have more than $2.5 billion in annual sales, with about 70% coming from plus-size clothing. Charming Shoppes plans to run Lane Bryant as a stand-alone company, a spokeswoman said. The company doesn't plan to close any stores or fire workers.

Limited Inc. said that it will close its money-losing Cacique lingerie chain and add 265 stores to its profitable Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works divisions this year. Cacique, a French-inspired lingerie brand, operates 118 stores nationwide. It lost $17 million last year on sales of about $95 million. "They're getting rid of something that didn't work out," said retail consultant Kurt Barnard. "Who wants to go into competition with Victoria's Secret?"

Limited Inc. is getting intimate again with Victoria's Secret, proposing to buy back the rest of Intimate Brands Inc., the owner of the sexy lingerie business, for $1.4 billion. Limited Inc., owner of 84% of Intimate Brands, which also sells Bath & Body Works and products, said Monday that it launched an exchange offer for the remaining 16% of Intimate Brands, in a move to allow for greater growth. The offer values Intimate Brands at about $18.

Home Depot Inc. said its fourth-quarter profit jumped 38% to $578 million, or 25 cents a share, a penny better than expectations, as sales grew 26% to $9.17 billion. Limited Inc.'s profit from operations rose 37% to $294.9 million, or $1.31 a share, well beyond the $1.18 a share analysts expected, on a 4.9% rise in sales to $3.29 billion. Limited also said it plans to buy back up to $200 million of its shares. Smart & Final Inc. posted fourth-quarter operating earnings of $5.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Home Depot Inc. reported better-than-expected earnings for the fiscal fourth quarter, making them standouts at a time of lackluster retail sales. Net income at Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, rose 16% as all of its operations turned in higher sales and profit; its domestic stores improved and its international division became profitable. Its net income rose to $1.1 billion, or 48 cents a share, from $942 million, or 41 cents, a year earlier.

Minneapolis-based Dayton-Hudson Corp.'s fiscal third-quarter earnings rose 38% on increased sales at its Target and department store chains. Profit from operations rose to $160 million, or 68 cents a fully diluted share, from $116 million, or 49 cents, in the year-earlier period. . . . Atlanta-based Home Depot Inc. said fiscal third-quarter earnings before a charge rose 35% to $299 million, or 40 cents a share, from $221 million, or 30 cents, a year earlier. . . . Ann Taylor Stores Corp.

Limited Inc., the nation's largest specialty merchant, said it will close or shrink as many as 280 Limited, Express, Lerner and Lane Bryant stores and shutter five of six Henri Bendel stores. It took a fiscal fourth-quarter charge of $167.2 million, or 60 cents a share, for the moves. Limited also offered to exchange its 84% stake in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. for Limited stock. In addition, the company said it plans to sell its remaining 2.6 million shares in Brylane Inc., a catalog retailer.