Finance & Capital Management

Increased marketing costs failed to deliver fourth quarter same store sales growth at Express and also took a toll on the specialty retailer’s profitability.

Express reported net income of $41.8 million, down 16% from $49.7 million last year. Net sales increased 1% to $725.8 million from $715.9 million. Same-store sales, including e-commerce, dropped 2%. E-commerce sales climbed 4% to $144.3 million.

Houston – Salata, a custom salad and salad wrap restaurant eatery, will open a 26,000-sq.-ft corporate complex in West Houston. Construction on the facility began in January and completion is estimated for summer 2015.

The headquarters will house offices for the chain's corporate employees, a training restaurant for franchisees and managers and a production facility. It will also feature a 2,500-sq.-ft. restaurant open to the public during regular lunch hours, which will also serve as a test kitchen and training restaurant.

Toronto - Sears Canada Inc. has entered into a definitive agreement with Concord Pacific Group of Companies to sell and lease back three of its properties for $140 million. The after-tax proceeds, including adjustments, will be approximately $130 million.  

The locations include store space and adjacent property located at the Metropolis at Metrotown in Burnaby, British Columbia, Cottonwood Mall in Chilliwack, British Columbia and North Hill Shopping Centre in Calgary, Alberta. The transaction is scheduled to close on or about June 8, 2015.

Walter J. Salmon, the distinguished Harvard Business School professor who influenced generations of retailers, has died at the age of 84.

Salmon, long one of the world’s leading experts on retailing, retail distribution, and marketing, who for more than 40 years influenced thousands of students, executives and other academics, was the school’s Stanley Roth Sr. Professor of Retailing Emeritus.

Indianapolis -- Simon Property Group has put out feelers to acquire The Macerich Company, confirmed by a letter from Simon chairman and CEO David Simon to Arthur Coppola, chairman and CEO of Macerich.  

Macerich has not responded to the offer, although the letter from Simon references prior discussions that include a proposal by Simon to acquire all of the outstanding stock of Macerich for $91.00 per share in cash and Simon shares. The total value of the proposed transaction is approximately $22.4 billion.
 

Online consignment marketplace Swap.com is expanding into women’s clothing, shoes and accessories.

Executives with Swap.com said the new women’s collection will launch with more than 25,000 items.

“The expansion into women’s apparel is not just about making it easier for our customers to buy and sell their gently loved clothes and handbags,” said Jesse Gonzalez, merchandising manager at Swap.com. “It’s also about offering the fashionable looks that our customers love, at a better deal than you can find in-stores.”

New York -- Triple Five Group,  the company that owns and manages the nation’s largest shopping center, Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., and the largest one in North America, West Edmonton Mall, Alberta (Canada), is looking to build its largest center yet. The company has proposed a sprawling mega-mall and entertainment destination near Miami Lakes in Northwest Miami-Dade County. As outlined in an article in the Miami Herald, the project would include a Legoland and an indoor ski slope.

Increased sales at Famous Footwear and the divestiture of its Shoes.com website helped Brown Shoe increase profits in the fourth quarter.

Brown Shoe Company reported that same store sales increased 4%, while profit was $16.2 million, or 37 cents a share, for the fourth quarter that ended Jan. 31, up from $6.2 million a year earlier. Adjusted earnings totaled $9 million in the quarter, or 20 cents a share, up from $6.2 million a share, or 14 cents a share, a year earlier. Net sales rose 2.6 percent in the quarter to $615.4 million.