Finance & Capital Management

Hoffman Estates, Ill. – Sears Holding Group Inc. has filed a $1.57 billion subscription rights offering with the SEC for its real estate investment trust (REIT) known as Seritage Growth Properties. The offering would give Sears shareholders the right to buy up to 53.3 million shares of the REIT at a share price of $29.58.

Seritage also plans to sell 9.5 million class C non-voting shares to Fairholme Capital Management LLC, Sears’ second-largest shareholder, at the same price. This would give Fairholme a roughly 12% stake in Seritage.

Corte Madera, Calif. - RH, Restoration Hardware, will announce plans for the launch of a new business on Thursday, June 11, after market close. RH chairman and CEO Gary Friedman will unveil the new concept during the company’s first quarter fiscal 2015 earnings video.

No other details have been made available at this time.

Ankeny, Iowa – Casey’s General Store beat Wall Street expectations for profit and revenue during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015. Net income roughly doubled to $41.34 million from $20.94 million, fueled by a drop in cost of goods sold.

Total revenue fell 14% to $1.65 billion from $1.92 billion, but still exceed analyst estimates.

During fiscal 2016, Casey’s plans to build or acquire 75 to 113 stores, replace 10 existing locations and complete 100 major remodels.

Toronto - Sears Canada Inc. has closed a transaction to sell and leaseback three properties to Concord Pacific Group of Companies. The transaction, originally announced on March 11, 2015, has closed for total proceeds of $140 million.

Brisbane, Calif. – Manny Mashouf, founder and chairman of Bebe Stores Inc., intends to gradually sell off his 59% majority ownership stake in the company. Bebe has filed a registration statement with the SEC for a proposed secondary offering of about 46.9 million shares associated with Mashouf.

Mashouf will sell the shares during a reasonable period of time. Bebe will not receive any proceeds from the sale.
 

Burlington, N.J. – Aided by reductions in areas such as interest expense, debt extinguishment and stock option modification, Burlington Stores Inc. more than doubled its net income to $25.69 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2015 from $11.77 million the same period a year earlier. The company plans to open 25 stores during fiscal 2015.

The West Coast port dispute and traffic declines due to weather led to a big loss for Christopher & Banks Corp. in the first quarter.

Amazon.com is going big in Texas with the announcement of the construction of yet another fulfillment center in Dallas. 

The new 500,000 square-foot facility, which is currently under construction, will be located at the northeast corner of Interstate 45 and Interstate 20 in Dallas and will bring about 500 new jobs to the area when the facility opens early in 2016.

Employees at the Dallas fulfillment center will process smaller items, such as books, electronics and consumer goods, Amazon said Tuesday.

We are in a golden age of big data and analytics in which technology enables retailers to be more lean, efficient and competitive than ever. There are companies with solutions that address everything from pricing optimization and marketing effectiveness to optimal modular assortments and cybersecurity threats.

Things are looking up for yogawear retailer Lululemon Athletica Inc., which reported a large increase in revenue from online sales in the first quarter.