Finance & Capital Management

St. Louis -- Brown Shoe Co., which will soon change its name to Caleres, reported a strong first quarter, with net earnings rising 24.8% to $19.3 million amid better-than-expected same-store sales and strong margins.

Net revenue rose 1.9% to $602.3 million from $591 million in the year ago period. Same-store sales rose 3.1%.

Gross margin of 41.3% was up approximately 30 basis points year-over-year, while operating margin of 5.0% was up approximately 10 basis points.

Carpinteria, Calif. – America’s love affair with credit cards continues heating up. According to The Nilson Report, purchase volume at merchants for general purpose-type consumer and commercial credit, debit, and prepaid cards issued in the U.S. totaled $4.91 trillion in 2014, up 8.4% from 2013.

Credit cards increased their market share in purchase volume compared to debit and prepaid cards to 53.59% in 2014, up from 52.95% in 2013.

Ft. Myers, Fla. -- Chico's FAS Inc. on Wednesday reported that its first-quarter profit dropped 18% amid restructuring charges and lower sales.

The apparel retailer reported a profit of $32.5 million for the period ended, down from $39.9 million in the year-ago period. The results met Wall Street expectations.

Revenue rose 1.7% to $693.3 million in the period, which was short of Street forecasts.

Same-store sales fell 0.1%.
 

London -- The most valuable retail brand in the world lacks physical stores. At least that’s according to the tenth annual BrandZTM Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking, released by WPP and Millward Brown. Chinese online giant Alibaba took the top spot of the retail, with a brand value of $66.4 billion, overtaking Amazon, at $62.3 billion.

City of Commerce, Calif. - 99 Cents Only Stores has named Andrew Giancamilli, chairman of the company’s board of directors, as interim president and CEO, replacing Stéphane Gonthier, who has resigned.

New York – Tiffany & Co. overcame the negative impact of a strong dollar on global performance to beat Wall Street with smaller-than-expected declines in net earnings and sales during the first quarter of fiscal 2015. Net earnings declined 17% to $105 million from $126 million a year earlier, with increased marketing spending contributing to the decrease.

Seattle – Amazon.com is hiring for more than 6,000 full-time jobs across its U.S. fulfillment network to meet growing customer demand. Employees will pick, pack and ship customer orders.

Columbus, Ohio – DSW Inc. beat Wall Street expectations with first quarter profits that were aided by a reduction in clearance-priced merchandise. Net income in the first quarter of fiscal 2015 rose 22% to $47.37 million, from $38.64 million a year earlier.

Net sales grew 9% to $655.49 from $598.95 million. Same-store sales improved 5.1%.

Zaandam, Netherlands – Global grocery conglomerate Ahold N.V. had a successful first quarter of fiscal 2015, reporting growth in overall net income and in U.S. market share. Net income more than quadrupled to $230.74 million from $54.16 million, aided by the elimination of discontinued operations from the same period a year earlier.

Boston – Online specialty retailer Karmaloop Inc. has named Seth Haber as CEO. Haber is the former co-owner and director of Agenda Trade Shows.

Haber's appointment follows the recent acquisition of Karmaloop by Comvest Partners and CapX Partners, which includes all of Karmaloop's businesses; Karmaloop.com, PLNDR, Kazbah and Karmaloop Europe. Comvest and CapX will acquire Karmaloop as part of the company's voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy case. The sale is expected to close in early June.