11:51 AM EST - Hudson's Bay Company : reported strong same store sales increases today for the quarter ended October 27, 2012, and announced an initial quarterly dividend of $0.09375 per share payable on December 27, 2012 to shareholders of record as of December 19, 2012. Same store sales increased by 4.5% at Hudson's Bay and 5.2% on a U.S. dollar basis at Lord & Taylor, primarily driven by stronger storewide promotional events in October. Consolidated same store sales, which increased 3.5% compared to the prior period, were negatively impacted by foreign exchange rate movements and lower sales at Home Outfitters. Normalized Net Earnings (Loss) - Continuing Operations was $0.8 million for the quarter compared to ($5.0 million) for the prior period, a $5.8 million improvement. Hudson's Bay Company
shares T.HBC are trading down $0.01 at $16.80.
