Retailer Talbots names president of J. Jill brand

The women's apparel retailer Talbots Inc. has appointed Paula Bennett as president of its J. Jill brand, effective Jan. 28. Bennett, 58, previously served as president and chief executive of the Appleseed's, Tog Shop, and WinterSilks brands at Orchard Brands. She replaces Phil Kowalczyk, who was recently appointed chief operating officer at Hingham-based Talbots. (AP)

Waltham's Steinway Musical Instruments Inc. said it expects to report a 10 percent increase in piano sales in 2007. Based on preliminary results, Steinway said piano sales in Europe and Asia jumped 23 percent, while domestic piano sales rose 3 percent. For 2008, the company expects stable order and sales rates for band instruments. The company also expects margin improvement in its band operations, due to production efficiencies. Its piano division expects a challenging US and Western European market in 2008, but anticipates growth in Eastern Europe and China. The company plans to reduce inventories and adjust production to match demand in 2008. (AP)

Bear Stearns Cos. chief executive James Cayne said he will give up day-to-day control of the fifth-largest US investment bank amid unprecedented losses from the subprime mortgage crisis. Cayne, 73, will serve as nonexecutive chairman of the New York company, according to an internal memo obtained by the Associated Press. He will be succeeded as chief executive by president Alan Schwartz, effective immediately. The shake-up had been expected for months and is just the latest to hit the executive suites of America's biggest investment houses. The subprime crisis already claimed Merrill Lynch chief Stan O'Neal and Citigroup chief Charles Prince. (AP)

Citigroup, badly bruised by the sharp downturn in the housing market, is bringing all of its mortgage-related activities under one roof. Citi said that Bill Beckmann, the head of Citigroup's consumer mortgage operations, had been put in charge of creating a residential mortgage business that will issue, package, and collect payments on home loans. Those activities currently are done by separate units within Citi's consumer and investment bank divisions. The move is one of the first major actions taken since Vikram S. Pandit took over as chief executive in December. It is unclear how many jobs will be eliminated. Executives provided no details of the unit's structure or timetable for the plan. (New York Times News Service)

New York-based Avon Products Inc., the world's largest door-to-door cosmetics seller, will cut an additional 2,400 jobs as part of a restructuring plan that will lead to savings of $430 million annually. The company said it expects $130 million, or 43 percent, more in reductions by 2012 after completing the plan disclosed in November 2005. The program will cost an additional $30 million. Avon is expanding overseas to counter slowing US growth, where it faces competition from Procter & Gamble Co.'s Cover Girl, Revlon Inc., and L'Oreal SA's Maybelline. (Bloomberg)

McGraw-Hill Cos. said it will cut 600 jobs and will take a $43.7 million pretax charge to cover severance costs. The fourth-quarter charge will reduce the company's earnings by $27.3 million, or 8 cents per share, after tax. McGraw-Hill publishes textbooks and magazines such as BusinessWeek and operates the Standard & Poor's credit rating company. The cuts affect the company's education, financial services, and information and media segments, and its general corporate operations. (AP)

Barclays Capital, which reported a write-down of $2.6 billion in credit securities two months ago, said that its copresident, Grant Kvalheim, had resigned and would leave at the end of the first quarter. His resignation is the latest high-level departure at a major investment bank, amid billions in losses related to subprime mortgage problems and the tighter credit market. (New York Times News Service)