Briefcase

Levi Strauss earnings helped by discount line

Jeans maker Levi Strauss & Co. on Tuesday reported its quarterly profit doubled, lifted by the launch of a lower-priced jeans line at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and lower marketing and administrative expenses.

Privately held Levi Strauss, which reports earnings because of its outstanding corporate debt, reported net income of $26.7 million for the fiscal third quarter ended Aug. 24. That compared with net income of $13.7 million a year earlier.

Net sales at the company, which last week said it would close its remaining North American plants and cut 2,000 jobs as part of a restructuring, rose 6 percent to $1.08 billion.

Manufacturing

Ford to cut 3,000 jobs

Ford Motor Co. would eliminate 1,700 contract workers, 1,300 vacant salaried positions and 50 salaried employees in North America by the end of the year, the automaker said Tuesday.

The cutbacks were linked to Ford’s announcement in July that it hoped to cut 10 percent of costs associated with its salaried automotive work force by the end of 2003, said Ford spokesman Oscar Suris.

Jim Padilla, president of Ford North America, notified workers of the latest measures in an internal memo Tuesday, Suris said.

Retail

Wal-Mart CEO predicts growth will continue

The CEO of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, told industry analysts Tuesday not to expect the company’s phenomenal growth to slow anytime soon.

The company plans to open as many as 195 new stores and replace or expand another 160 in the United States next year. That would add 50 million square feet of retail space, the equivalent of the entire Wal-Mart chain in 1985, chief executive Lee Scott said.

The majority of the new stores or renovations will be Supercenters, the high-volume stores that average $100 million in sales in their first year. Mike Duke of Wal-Mart’s domestic division said the company was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was better off opening several Supercenters in the same area, as close as three miles apart, rather than supplementing one with Neighborhood Market groceries and its other smaller units.

Topeka

Payless elects director

Topeka-based Payless ShoeSource, Inc. announced Tuesday that John F. McGovern had been elected to its board of directors, with a term to expire in May 2006.

McGovern is principal of Aurora Capital, LLC, a private investment and consulting firm based in Atlanta. Prior to joining Aurora Capital, McGovern served in a number of positions at Georgia-Pacific Corp. from 1981-1999, including executive vice president and chief financial officer from 1994-1999.

Previously, he had been vice president and director of the Forest Products and Package Division of Chase Manhattan Bank.