Finance & Capital Management

A plan to co-brand RadioShack stores with the Sprint logo will apparently save the chain from extinction, according to the Wall Street Journal.  

Hoffman Estates, Ill. – Sears Holding Corp. is forming a real estate investment trust (REIT) called Seritage Growth Properties, which will purchase 254 Sears and Kmart stores for more than $2.5 billion. Seritage will partially fund the transaction through a public rights offering.

Home Depot, which was hit by a widely publicized data breach in 2014, has reportedly hired its first chief information security officer, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Atlanta-based Home Depot Inc. has appointed former Time Warner and Visa executive Jamil Farshchi to the new position of chief information security officer (CISO), according to the Journal.

The move comes months after the home improvement retailer said its payment systems were breached at some 2,200 U.S. and Canadian stores.

The Woodlands, Texas -- Conn’s Inc. on Tuesday reported a bigger-than-expected 44% decrease in its fourth-quarter profit amid ongoing problems with its credit-financing business. The retailer said it is exploring a sale of all or a portion of its loan portfolio and will stop selling video game products, digital cameras and certain tablets. It also said it remains on track to open 15 to 18 stores this year.

For the fourth quarter ended Jan. 31, Conn’s reported a profit of $15.5 million, down from $27.7 million in the year-ago period.

Hampstead, Md. – Jos. A. Bank Clothiers is reportedly laying off 122 workers at its corporate headquarters. According to Reuters, the cuts will occur between May and December 2015, and represent about 15% of its total headquarters personnel. The layoffs come nearly one year after the company was acquired by Men’s Wearhouse.

New York -- Europe's largest home improvement retailer, Kingfisher, plans to close about 60 underperforming B&Q stores in Britain amid a 7.5% decrease in annual profit, Reuters reported.

Currently, B&Q operates some 360 stores.

In other news, Kevin O'Byrne, CEO for B&Q U.K. and Ireland, will leave the company on May 15, the report said.

Washington, D.C. - An Obama administration proposal to expand overtime and redefine what it means to be a restaurant or retail manager may harm mangers’ career paths and undermine the quality of customer service they are able to provide. According to a new survey 200 salaried retail and restaurant managers conducted for the National Retail Federation (NRF) by GfK Research, 81% of respondents said there would be an adverse impact on customer service.

Books-A-Million continued to benefit from a spike in book sales and the popularity of Minecraft and Disney’s “Frozen” in the fourth quarter, as same store sales and profit increased.

The chain posted a profit of $3.5 million in the year ended Jan. 31 compared to a net loss of $7.6 million in 2013. Same store sales increased 0.4% in the year and rose 1.7% in the fourth quarter when total sales rose 1.8% and net income increased 0.8% at Books-A-Million over the previous year with sales hitting $474 million.