Financial News

PARSIPPANY, N.J. — Generic drug maker Watson Pharmaceuticals has formed a special office to handle its pending acquisition of Actavis, the company said.

Watson announced the formation of the global integration management office, which will report directly to president and CEO Paul Bisaro and focus on integrating the Zug, Switzerland-based generic drug maker, which Watson announced it would acquire last month.

RESTON, Va. — ComScore reported that online retail spending reached $44.3 billion for first quarter 2012, up 17% from the year-ago period.

ComScore said retail e-commerce sale estimates represented the tenth consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and sixth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. Additional findings included:

• 48.8% of e-commerce transactions included free shipping, the highest percentage for a quarter on record outside of the holiday season;

PITTSBURGH — Mylan has increased its 2012 earnings per share guidance range, the generic drug maker said.

The company boosts its EPS guidance range to $2.45 to $2.55 in adjusted diluted earnings per share, up from $2.30 to $2.50 per share. All of Mylan's other 2012 guidance metrics remain unchanged.

In related news, Mylan also announced that its board of directors has approved the repurchase of up to $500 million of the company's common stock in the open market.

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — Stater Bros. reported its second-quarter results for the period ended March 25.

The retailer's consolidated sales for the quarter rose nearly 2.7% to $937.7 million, compared with the year-ago period, while same-store sales also rose nearly 2.7%. Second-quarter net income totaled $16.4 million, compared with $9.3 million for second quarter of the prior year.

ELMSFORD, N.Y. — BioScrip experienced a boost in revenue and gross profit during first quarter 2012 ended March 31.

BOLINGBROOK, Ill. — Beauty retailer Ulta Beauty announced on Monday preliminary first-quarter fiscal 2012 results, which included an expected same-store sales increase of 10.1%.

Ulta Beauty expects to report that total net sales for the quarter were $474 million, compared with its previous guidance of $452 million to $460 million. The expected results are a 22.8% increase from total net sales of $386 million for first quarter fiscal 2011.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens on Monday announced it has completed its acquisition of certain assets of BioScrip’s community specialty pharmacies and centralized specialty and mail-service pharmacy businesses. The transaction represents a total deal value of approximately $225 million.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Supermarket retailer Harris Teeter experienced a boost in second-quarter sales, as well as sales for the first half of fiscal year 2012, the company said.

Sales for the second quarter ended April 1, sales rose 6.7% to $1.12 billion, compared with the year-ago period, while the 26-week period experienced a sales boost of 7.6% to $2.24 billion, compared with the same period last year.