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NEW YORK — Publix may join Royal Ahold later this month in making a bid for the more than 200 Harris Teeter supermarkets, according to a report published Friday by Bloomberg, citing people with knowledge of the situation. 

Virginia and North Carolina would represent new markets for Publix if the Florida-based grocer acquired Harris Teeter. Publix has already marked North Carolina for expansion with plans to open two stores in the state in 2014. 

SEATTLE — A growing beauty brand led by a former executive from Starbucks has secured more than $10 million in financing from a Silicon Valley venture capital firm.

Julep Beauty, founded by Jane Park, said it received $10.3 million in Series B financing from Andreessen Horowitz, led by former Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen. Maveron — the venture capital firm co-founded by investor Dan Levitan and Starbucks chairman and CEO Howard Schultz — participated in the funding.

AMSTERDAM — Keeping stores open during Hurricane Sandy was one of the factors that contributed to an increase in total store sales and comps in the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2012 for Ahold USA, the supermarket operator's Dutch parent company said Thursday.

Ahold attributed its 4.3% increase in sales in the fourth quarter, to $6.1 billion, partially to the Hurricane Sandy effort. The quarter also saw comps increase by 2.4%, while full year sales were $25.8 billion, a 3.1% over 2011, as comps increased by 1.4%.

Alabama's Supreme Court ruled in January that brand-name drug companies could be sued if patients suffer complications from generic versions of their medicines, according to published reports. According to the New York Times, an Alabama man named Danny Weeks claimed he developed tardive dyskinesia after taking generic versions of Pfizer's acid reflux drug Reglan (metoclopramide). Pfizer acquired rights to the drug when it bought Wyeth in 2009, and generic drug makers Teva and Actavis, now owned by Watson, make generic versions.

PITTSBURGH — Mylan had sales of $1.72 billion in fourth-quarter 2012 and $6.8 billion for fiscal year 2012, the generic drug maker said.

Those figures compared with $1.53 billion in fourth-quarter 2011 and $6.13 billion for fiscal year 2011.

The latest sales figures include $1.58 billion in generics sales and $155.1 million in branded drug sales.

"2012 was an outstanding year for Mylan, with top-line growth of 11% and bottom-line growth of 27% versus last year," Mylan CEO Heather Bresch said.

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid's philanthropic arm has donated $15,000 to an organization that works with universities to develop social justice projects.

The Rite Aid Foundation announced the donation of the grant to Impact Alabama, based in Birmingham, Ala., which plans to use the grant to expand FocusFirst, a vision-screening program for children in Head Start classrooms and lower-income daycares across the state. The foundation previously awarded the group $15,000 in 2010.

Are doctors needlessly raising the costs of America's healthcare system through their prescribing habits? Absolutely, say researchers. A new report appearing in the Jan. 7 issue of JAMA Internal Medicine highlighted the powerful role played by branded drug advertising on consumer preferences and physicians' prescribing habits, and asserted that many doctors ignore the cost-saving benefits of generic drugs when writing prescriptions by acceding to patients' wishes.

NEW YORK — According to published reports, Flowers Foods is set to buy Hostess bread brands, including Wonder bread, for $360 million after no other bidder came forward with a competing offer, a source familiar with the sale acknowledged Wednesday.

According to a Reuters report, Hostess, which went bankrupt last year, was scheduled to host an auction on Thursday for the brands — which also include Butternut, Home Pride, Merita and Nature's Pride — but as no other bids were announced, the company will not go through with an auction.

NEW YORK — A privately owned drug maker in New York is offering $6.5 billion for Irish drug maker Elan, but hasn't heard back from it, according to published reports.

The Associated Press reported that Royalty Pharma's $11-per-share offer for Elan represented a 4% premium over its closing price Friday. Royalty buys royalty interests in drug products that are in late-stage development or have already entered the market, but doesn't develop or market drugs of its own, the AP reported.

Consumers still have a thirst for bottled water. "Bottled water is performing moderately well with respectable growth," said John Sicher, publisher of Beverage Digest. Dollar sales of bottled water were up 7% across food, drug and mass outlets for the 52 weeks ended Dec. 2, 2012, according to SymphonyIRI data. Sicher said he expects bottled water to grow modestly over the next few years.

Despite a wavering economy, all of the U.S. prestige beauty categories enjoyed healthy growth in 2012, according to global information company the NPD Group, which presented in late January the U.S. and global beauty industry's first look at 2012 year-end results for skin care, makeup and fragrance at its annual "Hot off the Press" event at the Harmonie Club in New York.

Cosmetic Executive Women — a professional organization in the beauty, cosmetics, fragrance and related industries — partnered with the NPD Group to host this year's event.