Finance & Capital Management

Hoffman Estates, Ill. – Imran Joona, executive VP of online, marketing, pricing and financial services at Sears Holding Corp., is leaving the company. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Sears said Joona resigned Dec, 17 and will leave in February 2015 to pursue a new opportunity.  

Retailers expected online sales to hit record levels in 2014 and did they ever.

New all-time highs for e-commerce sales are now expected for the November through December time frame following a strong surge in sales during the final week before Christmas, according to the digital measurement firm comScore.

Walgreens is poised to start 2015 off with a bang, as the company has nearly finalized its mega-deal with Alliance Boots.

Walgreens shareholders voted to approve all proposals related to the company’s acquisition of the remaining 55% of Alliance Boots that it does not currently own and the reorganization of the company into a holding company structure.

New York City - Barnes & Noble announced that it has bought back full ownership of its Nook e-reader business, which it plans to split into a separate company.   On Tuesday, the bookseller said that it acquired educational book publisher Pearson Inc.'s stake in Nook for $27.7 million; the deal closed Monday, and Barnes & Noble said it now owns Nook Media outright.  

Guitar Center has chosen retailing veteran Darrell Webb to be the company's new president and CEO. From 2011 to 2013, Webb served as chairman and CEO of the Sports Authority.   Webb has more than 30 years of experience in retailing and has led several multibillion dollar companies through periods of rapid growth.  

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Spend on prepaid gift cards is on the rise this holiday season, as a significant majority (70%) of shoppers plan to purchase gift cards this season, according to an interim holiday spending report released by Stored Value Solutions, a provider of gift cards and stored value services.   According to the report, 92% of shoppers plan to spend either the same amount or more on gift cards than they spent last year. And for the eighth straight year, gift cards have been the most desired holiday gift.

New York City - In not-unexpected news, Family Dollar has delayed its shareholder vote on a potential acquisition by Dollar Tree; the vote is now slated for Jan. 22, and analysts say this could bode well for a potential deal with industry giant Dollar General.   Family Dollar convened as planned on Tuesday and, based on insufficient votes, subsequently adjourned its Special Meeting of Stockholders on the proposed transaction with Dollar Tree.  

Deerfield, Ill. – Cost synergies from its ongoing merger with U.K. drugstore chain Alliance Boots GmBH helped boost net earnings at Walgreen Co. 16% to $809 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2015 from $695 million the same quarter a year earlier. The combined synergies for Walgreens and Alliance Boots in the first quarter were approximately $140 million and remain on track to reach at least $650 million in fiscal 2015.

Sales rose 7% to $19.6 billion from $18.33 billion. Same-store sales increased 5.7%.

San Francisco – Although the mobile payment partnership that Starbucks and Square launched in 2012 will soon be ending, Square is reportedly still actively working with Starbucks. According to the San Francisco Business Journal, Square is publicly informing its users that Starbucks is using Square technology to process payments at 7,000 stores.  

New York - Retail sales worldwide, including both in-store and Internet purchases, will total nearly $22.5 trillion this year. According to new figures from EMarketer, the global retail market will see steady growth during the next few years, and in 2018, worldwide retail sales will increase 5.5% to reach $28.3 trillion.