J.C. Penney Co. moved to raise as much as $1 billion by selling stock, boosting its cushion of cash ahead of what could be a hard-fought holiday season, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Penney said yesterday that it would sell up to 96.6 million shares in a public offering underwritten by Goldman Sachs. The department store chain is seeing some improvement in sales but is still facing concerns from creditors, who worry that the retailer's road ahead is uncertain. Companies that finance clothing deliveries to Penney are making it more expensive for suppliers to do business with the retailer. Rosenthal & Rosenthal, a "factoring" company that pays suppliers up front then collects later from Penney, raised the surcharge it imposes for Penney suppliers to 2 percent from 1 percent and is now only financing 70-80 percent of the goods that are delivered. Previously, the New York-based firm had financed the full value of the goods.
