Finance & Capital Management

The combination of 80 new stores and a 20% increase in e-commerce is expected to drive double digit growth of VF corp.’s business in 2016.

Demand for shares of Ollie’s Bargain Outlet is such that the retailer has increased the size of a secondary offering.

American Apparel has lost one of its veteran executives. Martin Bailey, who headed up manufacturing for the company, has resigned, Fashionunited.com reported. Previously, he served as president and VP of operations for American Apparel, which recently emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. [Fashionunited.com]

The VF Corp. is adding some heavy duty retail expertise to its board of directors.

Oklahoma City -- GBT Realty Corp. announced the acquisition of 30 acres in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The site was purchased in January for $2.95 million. The company broke ground on development of the first phase of the $50 million The Market at Czech Hall, a 450,000-sq. ft. regional neighborhood center last week.

Phase one includes the construction of 180,000-sq. ft. of retail, along with seven outparcels. The first tenant expected to open fall 2016.

Increased expenses and shrinking margins hurt Nordstrom profitability in the fourth quarter, but the leading department store and off-price retailer delivered on the e-commerce front.

Nordstrom said sales for the fourth quarter increased 5.2% to $4.1 billion and same store sales increased 1%. The company’s full price stores and Nordstrom.com grew sales 0.7% and same stores sales increased 0.2%. However, the growth was largely driven by Nordstrom.com sales which increased 11% and offset a 3.2% decline at physical stores.

A modest increase in fourth quarter same store sales at Walmart’s U.S. stores marked a sixth consecutive period of growth and helped the company exceed analysts’ profit targets, but a reduced 2016 sales outlook caught some investors by surprise.

The CEO of Cabela’s, Tommy Millner, said warm winter weather hampered same-store sales in the fourth quarter, but he did not provide details about any potential sale of the company.