Finance & Capital Management

The CEO of Gap Inc. says efforts to improve "product acceptance" at Gap and Banana Republic stores is a work in progress that continues to drain on the company's financial results, which included an 8% decline in its first-quarter profit.

Former Sears and Walgreens finance executive Atul Kavthekar is joining LivingSocial as CFO to help execute the e-commerce company’s ongoing re-invention strategy.

Hibbett Sports says harsh winter weather, tax refund delays and the West Coast port dispute all contributed to the company posting an unanticipated decline in same store sales for the first quarter.

Jeff Rosenthal, president and CEO, said: “We experienced early headwinds in the quarter, with February posting a negative high-single-digit comp due to impacts from weather-related closures, port delays and a shift in the timing of tax refunds.”

Just days after it agreed to sell itself to Ascena Retail Group for $2.2 billion, Ann Inc. posted another mixed financial report.

For the first quarter ended May 2, same-store sales declined 1.5% overall at Ann Inc., as Ann Taylor brand sales fell 3% and Loft brand sales were down 0.6%. The company reported a profit of $13.6 million, or 29 cents a share, up from $5.2 million, or 11 cents a share, a year ago.

Foot Locker has "hit the ground running in 2015," according to CEO Richard Johnson, adding that the company posted a better-than-expected 14% increase in profit in its first quarter as the sportswear retailer continues to benefit from sales growth.

Tampa, Fla. -- Ashley Furniture Industries announced that it is establishing, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Ashcomm LLC, its U.S. e-commerce headquarters in Ybor City.

The headquarters office will occupy 70,000 sq. ft. of space in Centro Ybor in the heart of Tampa’s historic business and entertainment district. It will eventually house more than 100 employees in executive, administrative, marketing, design, and information technology positions for both the e-commerce business as well as other Ashley corporate operations.
 

Columbus, Ohio -- L Brands Inc. continued its winning ways in its first quarter, reporting better-than-expected earnings. The parent company of Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works also lifted its earnings forecast for the full year, but issued a weak forecast for the current quarter.

L Brands’ net income increased 59% to $250.47 million from $156.98 million in the year-ago period.

Net sales grew 5% to $2.51 billion from $2.39 billion last year.

Same-store sales rose 5%.

Kearney, Neb. – The Buckle Inc. fell short of Wall Street expectations for profit in a generally disappointing first quarter of fiscal 2015.

Net income fell 10% to $33.6 million from $37.3 million, with higher cost of sales and selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses cutting into profitability.

Net sales slightly declined to $271.34 million from $271.67 million.

Same-store sales dropped 2.2%. In one bright spot, online sales increased 12.9%.
 

Astoria, N.Y. – Bareburger has signed up to use Buxton's Scout platform to identify the best market opportunities for growth in the U.S. and Canada. Buxton's custom analytic solutions will allow Bareburger to quantify growth potential and select the best sites for new locations.

Fort Myers, Fla. – Chico’s FAS announced that CEO and president David F. Dyer intends to retire in spring 2016, at the end of the company’s fiscal year.

He will remain in his current role until a successor is appointed, and will remain on the board in the newly-created role of vice chairman until June 2016. The women’s specialty apparel retailer has retained executive search firm Herbert Mines Associates to assist in finding a new chief executive.