Business news in brief

The supermarket freezer aisle got more crowded Monday as Yuengling - a name more associated with ale and lager than vanilla and chocolate - took its place alongside other ice cream brands. Yuengling's Ice Cream, made at a small dairy in Pennsylvania's Schuylkill County, is a separate company from the Pottsville brewery. Yuengling's Ice Cream is available in 10 flavors - including black and tan (Belgian chocolate and salted caramel), an homage to the ice cream's brewery roots. The ice cream brand is being revived after a 30-year absence and will be available initially at stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. - AP

StoneMor Partners L.P., a Levittown company that has agreed to lease 13 cemeteries owned by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for 60 years, said it planned to offer for sale 1.8 million units, raising an estimated $41.5 million, after expenses. StoneMor said it planned to use the proceeds to repay a portion of a credit facility, which had $99.5 million outstanding on Sept. 30. At closing, which is expected in the first half of this year, StoneMor is scheduled to pay $53 million. An additional $36 million will be paid in years six through 35 of the lease. - Harold Brubaker

Electronic-instrument maker Ametek Inc., of Berwyn, said it acquired VTI Instruments, of Irvine, Calif., for $74 million. VTI, described by Ametek as a maker of precision test and measurement instrumentation, has annual sales of about $38 million. Ametek has annual sales of $3.6 billion. Ametek CEO Frank S. Hermance, in a statement, said the acquisition "provides us with additional technology differentiation, especially in the high-precision segment of the aerospace market." - Reid Kanaley

Urban Outfitters Inc. reported record fourth-quarter sales. The retailer, which operates multiple brands, said companywide sales increased 6 percent to $906 million. While sales at its flagship brand, Urban Outfitters, slipped 9 percent, the drop was more than offset by sales at Free People (up 20 percent) and Anthropologie (up 10 percent). Total sales of $3.1 billion for the year ending Jan. 31 were up 10 percent over the previous year. The company opened 38 stores over the last year, including 16 Urban Outfitters, 13 Free Peoples, and nine Anthropologies. Urban Outfitters will release its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2014 earnings March 10. - Chris Hepp

ParenteBeard L.L.C., the largest accounting firm based in Philadelphia, said Raymound Peroutka, former managing director and chief executive at Baltimore-based accounting firm Invotex Group, had joined ParenteBeard with three other partners and 22 additional staff. ParenteBeard has more than 1,000 professionals and is an independent member of the Baker Tilly International accounting network. - Joseph N. DiStefano

New General Motors CEO Mary Barra will get a pay package worth $14.4 million this year, 58 percent more than her predecessor, the company said. GM released the figure to counter reports that said Barra, the first woman to lead a major automaker, would be paid less than former chairman and CEO Dan Akerson. Those reports calculated Barra's compensation without including her long-term stock compensation, and the company was criticized as paying a woman less than a man. Barra will get $1.6 million in salary, $2.8 million in short-term incentives, and long-term stock compensation worth $10 million. - AP

McDonald's Corp. said bad weather hurt its U.S. sales performance in January, representing another setback as the fast-food chain fights to fend off rivals and get its menu right. The world's biggest hamburger chain says sales fell 3.3 percent at established U.S. locations last month. Global sales rose 1.2 percent, however, lifted by improvements in Europe and the region encompassing Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. The decline in the United States is the latest disappointment for McDonald's, which has conceded that its kitchen operations got overly complicated by new menu offerings. CEO Don Thompson also recently noted that the chain has lost some "relevance" with customers. - AP

Google Inc. has passed Exxon Mobil Corp. to become the second-most-valuable U.S. company by market capitalization. According to FactSet data, the Internet company's market capitalization surpassed that of oil company Exxon last week. As of Friday's market close, it sat at $395.42 billion, compared with the oil company's $392.66 billion. Shares of Google have been on a steady climb since the beginning of 2013, gaining 66 percent. Market capitalization is the number of outstanding shares multiplied by their value. Meanwhile, Exxon's have risen just 5 percent. Since the beginning of this year, they have lost about 10 percent of their value. Both companies trail Apple Inc.'s market capitalization of $463.55 billion. - AP