Finance & Capital Management

Destination XL Group Inc. reached a new level of performance in the fourth quarter with a whopping 16.4% same store sales increase.

Philadelphia -- Five Below Inc. on Wednesday reported better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter net income of $33.3 million. It also confirmed plans to open 70 stores in 2015, up from 62 in 2014.

Net sales in the quarter, ended Jan. 31, increased by 24.4% to $263.8 million from $212.0 million the year-ago period. Same-store sales increased by 3.2%. The results exceeded Wall Street expectations.

For the year, the company reported profit of $48 million. Revenue was reported as $680.2 million.

Some retailers have had a rough time being successful in Canada, but not Dollarama, where profits, sales and store counts are on the increase.

In fact, customers increased their spending at the Canadian discounter over the fourth quarter, leading to  the chain’s quarterly profit rising about 21%.

Specialty apparel retailer American Eagle had a solid fourth quarter and now is eyeing growth opportunities far from its home market by teaming up with leading South American retail conglomerate Cencosud.

Conshohocken, Pa. -- Ikea announced plans to install a fuel cell system at its location in Emeryville, California. Consistent with the retailer’s focus on emerging energy technologies, is the first Ikea in the world to convert biogas into electricity through a clean electro-chemical process. The fuel cell system will be installed, commissioned and activated by this summer, 2015.

Ikea contracted Bloom Energy, Sunnyvale, California, for the design, development and installation of the fuel system.

By Neil Axler

“You can’t get your nails done online, you can’t get dry cleaning done online and you can’t eat the Internet.” These are the dominant themes from retail clients (property owners) over the last few years. Today’s shopping center acquirers are looking for “necessity centers” with a stable rent roll. These centers consist of restaurants, nail salons and other destination retail that is not competing with e-commerce.

Teen and tween specialty retailer Five Below is accelerating store growth this year even though its relatively young store base mustered a modest 3.2% fourth quarter same store sales increase.

Five Below opened 62 new stores last year compared to 60 units the prior year to end the year with 366 locations in 21 states. The additional selling space and a 3.2% comp increase caused sales to increase 24.4% to $264 million from $212 million. Profits increased to $33.3 million compared to $24.8 million.

New York -- Thor Equities has signed a contract to acquire a prime retail and office property at 102 Avenue des Champs-Elysees in Paris. “102 Avenue des Champs-Elysees is at the center of one of the most desirable locations in the world, just blocks from the Arc de Triomphe and Place Charles de Gaulle,” said Joseph Sitt, CEO of Thor Equities.  “We continue to believe strongly in the Paris retail market, in particular prime shopping and tourist destinations such as the Champs-Elysees and Boulevard Haussmann.”