Finance & Capital Management

Cincinnati - The Kroger Co. is hiring to fill an estimated 20,000 permanent positions in its supermarket divisions. The company has created more than 40,000 permanent new jobs in the past six years, not including the 25,000 employees who joined as a result of the Harris-Teeter acquisition.

"Kroger's growth trajectory creates more job opportunities for current and future employees," said Katy Barclay, Kroger's senior VP of human resources.

Brisbane, Calif. – Bebe Stores Inc. reported a preliminary net loss of $24.2 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2014, up from $20.8 million the second quarter of the prior fiscal year. The loss includes costs related to the discontinuation of Bebe’s 2b business, which was shut down July 5.

Net sales were $103.6 million, a decrease of 9% from $113.5 million. Same-store sales dropped 1.9%.

Jim Wiggett, CEO, remained optimistic in his comments about Bebe’s future:

Jacksonville, Fla. - Body Central Corp. is enacting a one-for-10 reverse stock split of its common stock. Each 10 shares of common stock will be converted into one share of common stock.

The number of outstanding common shares will be reduced from approximately 17.2 million to approximately 1.72 million. The number of authorized shares and the par value per share will remain unchanged.

Matthews, N.C. — Family Dollar Stores on Friday rejected the sweetened, $9.1 billion take-over bid made by Dollar General on Sept.

Family Dollar has rejected the revised proposal made by Dollar General on Sept. 2 on the basis of antitrust regulatory considerations. The Dollar General offer may be financially superior, the dollar store operator noted, but it's not likely to pass muster with the Federal Trade Commission.
 

Just a few days after electing a whole new board of directors, Alco announced that newly elected director Stanley B. Latacha will assume the role of interim CEO, effective immediately.

Several Home Depot customers have filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, alleging that Home Depot failed to meet its legal obligation to protect their credit card and personal information and failed to timely warn them that such information had been stolen or that the security and privacy of such information had been compromised.

Bebe has taken significant steps to refocus on the Bebe brand, to preserve cash and to gain operating efficiencies across the organization. The retailer put these measures into effect by making changes in leadership, closing its 2b division and restructuring its corporate office, including retail management.

But the discontinuation of its 2b business, which was shut down July 5, took a bite out of the company’s second quarter, prompting the retailer to issue preliminary results.

Dollar Tree and Family Dollar have amended their merger agreement to include a commitment by Dollar Tree to divest as many stores as necessary or advisable to obtain antitrust clearance for the previously announced cash and stock transaction.

All other terms and conditions of the merger agreement remain the same as announced on July 28, 2014. The two companies also said that their expectations for a closing date for the transaction have accelerated to as early as the end of November 2014.