Consumer Affairs & Relations

Urban Outfitters reported substantial gains in net sales for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2014, driven primarily by the company’s Anthropologie and Free People brands.

Total company sales in the quarter increased 6% to $906 million from $856.8 million in the year-ago period — less than Wall Street expected.

Woonsocket, R.I. – CVS Caremark reported strong performance in both earnings and revenues for both the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2014. The chain also raised its guidance for the first quarter.

CVS said net income during the quarter ended Dec. 31,2014, rose 12.5% to $1.26 billion from $1.12 billion in the year-ago quarter. For the full year, income rose 19% to $4.59 billion, from $3.86 billion.

Counterfeiting and brand theft are crimes that have been given unlimited new life and opportunity online — they affect all industries and all major brands on a global scale. Recently the watchdog agency Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy (BASCAP) put a $1 trillion annual figure on global losses from counterfeiting and piracy, with 2.5 million jobs put at risk.

Los Angeles – The “Dumb Starbucks” parody store which opened in Los Angeles on Saturday, Feb. 8 has been revealed to be a prank for a Comedy Central TV show. According to the Associated Press, comedian Nathan Fielder made a public announcement on Feb. 10 that he opened the store for use in his TV show “Nathan for You.”

Washington, D.C. -- Import volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to drop 8.4% in February from the same time last year as the shipping cycle reaches its slowest month of the year, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

L’Oréal is reportedly buying back 8% of its shares from Nestlé, loosening their long-standing alliance.

L’Oréal will buy 48.5 million of its own shares. Following the transaction, Nestlé’s stake in L’Oréal will be reduced from 29.4% to 23.29% of the share capital and the Bettencourt Meyers family’s stake in L’Oréal will increase from 30.6% to 33.31%.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will hold its annual shareholders meeting on June 6.

The meeting will be at Bud Walton Arena on the University of Arkansas campus at Fayetteville.

New York -- Retail and consumer (R&C) total transaction value in the United States for 2013 surpassed $100 billion for the first time since 2008, according to PwC’s US retail and consumer deals insights 2013 Year in Review and 2014 Outlook report. Deals in the food and beverage sector and private equity (PE) investment in the apparel, footwear and accessories sector continued to drive activity in the R&C industry.