Finance & Capital Management

No company protects more mobile devices than Otter Products and now the maker of the ubiquitious OtterBox and LifeProof brands has a new CEO.

New York -- The CEO of Fastenal, Willard Oberton,  will resign from the 2,700 store chain, effective Dec. 31. Oberton, 56, will remain chairman of the company and continue to be actively involved in strategic planning and performance measurements.    

San Francisco –- Gap Inc. reported declining net and same-store sales for the third quarter and October 2014. For the third quarter Gap’s net sales were $3.97 billion, down 2.5% from $3.98 billion for the third quarter the prior year.  

New Albany, Ohio –- Abercrombie & Fitch reported net sales of $911.4 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2014, less than Wall Street forecast, down 12% from $1.03 billion in the year-ago period. The chain cited slowing mall traffic and weaker results in the latter part of the quarter.   

Brisbane, Calif. –- Net loss at Bebe Stores Inc. increased to $10.8 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2015, up from $7.9 million the same period the prior fiscal year. Loss from discontinued operations boosted total net loss.   Net sales from continuing operations were $102.2 million, a decrease of 6.5% from $109.3 million, primarily as a result of store closures. Same-store sales grew 0.7%, the first quarterly same-store sales increased reported by Bebe since fiscal 2012.

Phoenix, Ariz. -- Net income at Sprouts Farmers Market Inc. soared 79% to $26.1 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2014 from $14.6 million in the same quarter a year earlier. A reduction in pretax losses helped boost net income growth.  

New York –- Corporate realignment costs, particularly severance, increased net loss at Fairway Group Holdings Corp., the parent company of Fairway Market, during the second quarter of fiscal 2015. Net loss grew to $17.23 million from $12.22 million.  

Atlanta –- In addition to obtaining data from 56 million payment cards between April and Sept. 2014, hackers who infiltrated the network of The Home Depot Inc. also obtained the email addresses of 53 million customers.   In a statement on its website, the retailer said the files containing the email addresses, which were separate from the payment card files, did not contain passwords or other sensitive information, but customers should still be on guard against phishing scams.

J.P. Bilbrey, CEO of Hershey, has been appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to President Obama’s newly-established Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa (PAC-DBIA).  

Bilbrey will be one of the 15 private sector leaders providing guidance to the president on strengthening partnerships with African nations to leverage the opportunities for U.S. companies committed to supporting the continent for the long term. 

The private-sector council will focus on strengthening the U.S.’ commercial relationships with African nations. 

Mike Smith was named SVP finance and CFO North America at McCormick.  In this role he will oversee investor relations, treasury and serve as the CFO of the newly formed North American Leadership Team. 

Smith’s new team focuses on North American alignment and strategy for growth, performance and people. Joyce Brooks, VP, investor relations and Bob Conrad, VP treasurer will report directly to Smith.