Finance & Capital Management

Grapevine, Texas -- GameStop Corp.’s net income rose to $73.8 million in the first quarter, ended May 2, from $68 million, a year earlier.

Global sales increased to $2.06 billion from $2.00 billion, helped by the releases of games such as "Evolve" and "Mortal Kombat X."
Same-store sales rose 8.6%.

Hudson's Bay Company has appointed a former Toys”R”Us executive and Target veteran as chief of human resources.

Dan Caspersen will be responsible for leading the human resources function across the company, and report directly into the office of the chairman, the company said.

Dollar General elevated COO Todd Vasos to the role of CEO, filling a position held by Rick Dreiling who is sticking to his original retirement timetable after losing out to Dollar Tree in the bidding for Family Dollar.

Goodlettsville, Tenn. -- Dollar General Corp. on Thursday named Todd J. Vasos, COO, to the position of chief executive, effective June 3. He has also been elected to the board.

Vasos will succeed Rick Dreiling, chairman and CEO, who had previously announced his retirement plans. Dreiling will remain on the board for the remainder of his term and will serve as senior advisor and chairman of the board through January 29, 2016.

The election of Vasos to Dollar General’s board will bring the total number of directors to nine.

Hamilton, Bermuda – Signet Jewelers Ltd. topped Wall Street earnings estimates for the first quarter of fiscal 2016. Signet earnings rose 10% to $118.8 million, from $96.6 million the same quarter the previous fiscal year.

Total sales were $1.53 billion, up 45% compared to $1.06 billion. The increase was primarily driven by the addition of the Zale division. Same-store sales increased 3.6%. E-commerce sales were $76.9 million, up 98.7%, with Zale e-commerce sales a major driver.

Irvine, Calif. – A lower tax rate and slowed growth in cost of sales and selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses helped Tilly’s Inc. more than double net income to $1.3 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2015, compared to $600,000 the same quarter a year earlier.

Total net sales were $120.2 million, an increase of 8% compared to $111.1 million. Same-store sales rose 2%.

In what has become a familiar industry tale, the Belk department store chain’s investments in omnichannel drove first quarter sales growth but negatively affected profits.

London -- The most valuable retail brand in the world lacks physical stores. At least that’s according to the tenth annual BrandZTM Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking, released by WPP and Millward Brown. Chinese online giant Alibaba took the top spot of the retail, with a brand value of $66.4 billion, overtaking Amazon, at $62.3 billion.