T.J. Maxx’s third isle store opens Thursday

Discount retailer T.J. Maxx will open its third outlet on Hawaii on Thursday at Pearlridge Center Uptown.

Opening festivities will take place at 7:30 a.m. with a Hawaiian blessing and a donation to a local charity, Domestic Violence Action Center. The store will be open for business at 8 a.m.

Other outlets opened earlier this month at Ward Centers and Pearl City Gateway.

HEDCO wins national small-business award

HEDCO Local Development Co., a nonprofit organization, has been selected as the 2012 Large Certified Development Company of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration. The national award will be presented during National Small Business Week in Washington, D.C., May 20-22.

The Office of Financial Assistance selected HEDCO as the national winner based on loan portfolio quality, gain in approval volume and demonstration of a steadfast commitment to supporting the growth of small businesses.

HEDCO, established in 1981, serves Hawaii, Guam and the South Pacific. It is licensed and certified by the SBA to administer the federal government’s 504 Loan Program, which provides up to 90 percent financing and long-term fixed rates for the acquisition of most business assets that have a remaining useful life of at least 10 years. Such assets include commercial real estate, leasehold improvements, heavy equipment and machinery.

Warmer weather lifts Home Depot profits

NEW YORK » Home Depot said Tuesday that its first-quarter net income climbed nearly 28 percent as an unseasonably warm winter and increased business from contractors and other professional customers boosted results at the world’s biggest home-improvement company.

The company raised its 2012 net income guidance on the better-than-expected profit. But its revenue fell short of Wall Street expectations.

Home Depot Inc. reported net income of $1.04 billion, or 68 cents a share, for the period ended April 29. That’s up from $812 million, or 50 cents a share, a year earlier. The latest results beat the 64 cents a share that analysts polled by FactSet expected.

Revenue rose 6 percent to $17.81 billion from $16.8 billion, but that missed Wall Street’s estimate of $17.89 billion. Revenue at stores open at least a year rose 5.8 percent.

J.C. Penney loses $163M as shoppers rebel

NEW YORK » Turns out, J.C. Penney shoppers don’t prefer predictable pricing over blockbuster bargains — at least not yet. The department-store chain on Tuesday posted a larger-than-expected first-quarter loss largely because customers were turned off by the retailer’s new plan to get rid of big sales throughout the year in favor of everyday low pricing.

The idea of the strategy, which was rolled out on Feb. 1, is to discourage shoppers from waiting for the nearly 600 sales Penney used to offer each year. But the move has backfired: It seems many faithful Penney customers have stopped shopping altogether.

J.C. Penney Co.’s first-quarter results just affirm that customers have been slow to warm to its pricing plan. The company, based in Plano, Texas, lost $163 million, or 75 cents a share, in the three months ended April 28, compared with a profit of $64 million, or 28 cents a share, in the year-ago period.

Revenue dropped 20 percent to $3.15 billion for the quarter as customer traffic slipped 10 percent. Meanwhile, revenue at stores opened at least a year — a figure used to measure a retailer’s health — was down 18.9 percent.

Coty’s deal denial hobbles Avon shares

NEW YORK » Shares of Avon Products Inc. fell almost 10 percent Tuesday after the smaller beauty products maker Coty Inc. dropped its $10.7 billion takeover bid.

Privately held Coty first made an offer for Avon Products public on April 2, and the relationship was contentious from the start. Avon said that offer was too low, and Coty said it needed to look at Avon’s books before it made a definitive offer. Coty raised its bid last week by about 6.5 percent, to $24.75 per share from $23.25 per share, and said billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. would help finance the deal. Coty’s May 9 letter set a Monday deadline for Avon to decide. On Sunday the door-to-door marketer said it would consider the deal and respond within a week, but Coty slammed the door shut on Monday and investors followed suit.

Avon’s shares fell $2.02, or 9.7 percent, to end trading at $18.71 on Tuesday. Before the offer was made public, the shares had risen 11 percent for the year to $19.36. They topped $23 in early April, and they’ve traded between $30.42 and $16.09 the past year.

ON THE MOVE

Hawaii Children’s Cancer Foundation has announced the following new members of its board of directors:

» Ralph Kanetoku as treasurer. He currently serves as an audit partner with Koba­ya­shi, Kane­toku, Doi, Lum & Yasuda CPAs.

» Monica Salter will continue to provide public relations assistance for the organization and serve on its fundraising committee. She is a senior account manager at Bennet Group Strategic Communications.

Hawaiian Airlines has hired Ron Anderson-Lehman as senior vice president and chief information officer effective June 20. He will oversee all information technology activities for the company. He began his career in the aviation industry in 1986 as a computer programmer for United Airlines.