Consumer Affairs & Relations

Shareholders of Victoria’s Secret parent company L Brands received an early Valentine’s Day gift after the company said fourth quarter profits were much better than expected and it would pay a $2 a share special dividend.

The company said same store sales increased 7% and total sales for the four week period ended Jan. 31 increased 7% to $783.1 million. Sales for the full fourth quarter period also increased 7% to slightly more than $4 billion while same store sales grew 6%.

The retail industry’s data security efforts were upgraded week when the Retail Industry Leaders Association named the former Texas chief information security officer to lead the trade group’s new intelligence sharing organization.

RILA said Brian Engle would serve as executive director of the Retail Cyber Intelligence Sharing Center (R-CISC) and be responsible for managing the organization’s daily affairs.

New York — With just 85 stores, Rochester, New York-based Wegmans Food Market edged past online giant Amazon to take the top spot for corporate reputation among the 100 most visible companies, according to the 16th annual Harris Poll Reputation Quotient study.

Harris Poll expanded the list to 100 companies this year, up from 60, to offer deeper insight by industry. As a result, three of this year’s top 10 companies are debuting on the list, including No. 1 Wegmans, No. 7 L.L. Bean and No. 8 Publix Supermarkets.

New York -- Staples has entered an agreement to acquire Office Depot in a cash and stock deal valued at $6.3 billon that is sure to face a high degree of regulatory scrutiny.

Los Angeles -- American shoppers feel they can’t trust retailers to protect their credit card and personal information either online or in brick-and-mortar stores.  According to a survey by Bizrate Insights, 62% of shoppers agreed that "Current security to protect credit card and personal information at a retailers’ brick-and-mortar stores isn’t strong enough.”

This was only marginally worse than concerns for security on websites (60% agree) but better that mobile transactions (65% agree).

Framingham, Mass. – The office supply retail vertical may be in for more consolidation. According to the Wall Street Journal, Staples Inc. and Office Depot Inc. are in the “advanced stages” of negotiations to combine the two biggest U.S. office supply chains.

Walgreens Boots Alliance has appointed Marco Pagni, formerly group legal counsel and chief administrative officer of Alliance Boots, as EVP and global chief legal and administrative officer, effective immediately.

Citing the cost and complexity associated the rollout of the Affordable Care Act, National Retail Federation affirmed its opposition to the health care law in a sharply worded letter to top elected officials.

Vancouver – Dennis “Chip” Wilson, founder of Lululemon Athletica inc. is stepping down from Lululemon's board of directors. Wilson, who founded Lululemon in 1998, led the company through many business cycles as he expanded it from a small storefront in Vancouver to an international brand with over 250 stores.

Los Angeles - The Court of Paris has rejected every claim asserted by Gucci in a six-year trademark suit filed against Guess Inc., finding no trademark infringement, no counterfeiting, and no unfair competition. The court also completely denied Gucci’s request for $62.4 million in damages and, instead, Gucci was ordered by the court to pay Guess $34,000.

The court also invalidated three of Gucci’s “G” community and international trademarks, meaning Gucci cannot claim exclusive use to those marks any longer.