Finance & Capital Management

The Clorox Company has promoted Nick Vlahos, currently SVP and chief customer officer, to EVP and chief operating officer of household, lifestyle and core global functions, a position previously held by retiring EVP-COO George Roeth.

In this role, Vlahos will have responsibility for the charcoal, Glad, cat litter, food, Brita and Burt's Bees business operating units. He will also have responsibility for the company's marketing, sales, product supply and research and development functions.

YCD Multimedia, a provider of professional digital signage software solutions, has promoted Sam Losar, currently its president of US operations, to CEO.
 
Assuming CEO responsibility from company co-founder Noam Levavi, Losar will be trusted with continuing to expand the growth he achieved in the Americas to its business operations in Europe and Asia.

Noam Levavi co-founded the company in 1999 in Israel and led it for more than a decade.

As part of its efforts to reinvent its business and culture, Staples has opened a health and fitness center at its global corporate headquarters, in Framingham, Massachusetts. It is the latest in a series of updates to the campus, including a cafeteria stocked with healthier food options and a more open and collaborative floor plan, both designed by Business Interiors by Staples.

Following fourth quarter results that missed Wall Street expectations, Ascena Retail is looking ahead to fiscal 2015, which CEO David Jaffe said will see the continuation of a critical, multi-year investment to build the company’s omnichannel platform.

The company reported net earnings of $15.7 million, compared with $29.8 million in the year-ago period.

Just three weeks after Alco appointed a brand new board of directors, the company reported a net loss of $7 million in the second quarter, compared to net earnings of $800,000 a year earlier, thanks in part to growing costs of advertising, new stores and store support.

PayPal is further expanding its relationship with payment service provider BitPay, which specializes in e-commerce, B2B and enterprise solutions for the bitcoin digital currency. The first joint project is an integration with PayPal’s Payments Hub, which is PayPal’s alternative payment platform for digital goods.
 

Mahwah, N.J. -- Ascena Retail Group Inc. on Monday reported fourth-quarter net earnings of $15.7 million, compared with $29.8 million in the year-ago period. Its results missed Wall Street expectations.

Revenues for the quarter were $1.18 billion, compared with $1.20 billion in the prior year. The company attributed the decrease challenging tween market conditions at Justice and inventory-related issues at Lane Bryant. Results were partially offset by positive comp growth at Maurices and Catherines and new store growth at Maurices.

Memphis, Tenn. -- AutoZone on Monday reported better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter net income of $373.7 million from $347.8 million a year earlier. The chain also reported a milestone as its net income for the full year rose 7.7% to $1.1 billion.


The auto parts retailer’s revenue in the fourth quarter rose 3.4% to $3.05 billion in the period, up falling short of Street forecasts of $3.06 billion. Same-store sales rose 2.1%.

New York -- British supermarket retailer Tesco suspended four executives, including its U.K. managing director, after revealing that its half-year profit was overstated by $407 million, the BBC reported. The retailer has launched an investigation headed by Deloitte.

Tesco CEO Dave Lewis, who took over the struggling company in September, said the decision to ask employees to stand aside was not an indication of guilt or that disciplinary action was warranted. He declined to speculate on what the investigation might turn up.

Washington, D.C. -- The Washington, DC-based brokerage Cassidy Turley agreed to sell 100% of its equity interests to an affiliate of DTZ Investment Holdings, which is backed by a consortium of investors.

The deal is expected to fully close on Dec. 31, after the consortium acquires DTZ around Oct. 31