Finance & Capital Management

Higher same store sales and its purchase of Saks Inc. last year helped Hudson’s Bay Co. post a smaller quarterly loss in the third quarter.

The company had a $13 million net loss and profits of $116 million, both improvements from the same time last year. Same-store sales rose 1.7% in the third quarter.

The Woodlands, Texas – Conn’s Inc. has named VP and chief accounting officer Mark Haley as interim CFO in the wake of the departure of former CFO Brian Taylor. The company also reported a net loss of $3.06 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2015, compared to net income of $24.38 million a year earlier, missing Wall Street expectations.  

Ann Arbor, Mich. – Rolling Stones fans will sympathize with the devilish problem facing American customers, who couldn’t get satisfaction in the third quarter of 2014. The national level of customer satisfaction fell 0.7% in the third quarter of 2014 to 75.6 on a 100-point scale, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), pointing to weak spending growth for the fourth quarter.   

New York - The Supreme Court handed out a victory to Amazon and other employers when it ruled unanimously on Tuesday that a temp agency was not required to pay workers at Amazon warehouses in Nevada for the time they spent waiting for and undergoing security checks at the end of their shifts.   The court reversed a lower court ruling from last year  which had allowed the workers to sue under the theory that since their screening time was required by the employer, it should be compensated.  

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has turned to a Sears veteran for leadership after longtime and occasionally divisive CEO Michael Jeffries abruptly retired.

Abercrombie announced it will be run by a newly created Office of the Chairman, which includes former Sears CEO and current non-executive chairman of Abercrombie; COO Jonathan Ramsden; Christos Angelides, who oversees the Abercrombie & Fitch division; and Fran Horowitz, who leads Hollister.

Martinez retired from Sears in 2000 after serving as chairman and CEO there for five years.

Burlington Stores Inc. CEO Tom Kingsbury reported an unexpected sales spike in the third quarter, prompting the company to enthusiastically boost its outlook for the year.

Florence, N.J. – Burlington Stores Inc. increased its net loss to $34.21 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2014 from $16.86 million in the same period a year earlier amid increased expenses net loss.   By the end of fiscal 2014, Burlington Stores expects to have opened 24 new stores and closed two stores, for a total store count of 543.  

Cary, N.C. – The Pantry Inc. beat Wall Street expectations with net income but missed on revenue in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014. Net income dramatically shot up to $14.7 million from $1 million in the same period a year earlier, aided by costs and expenses that remained level or dropped.   Revenue fell 3% to $1.95 billion from $2.02 billion, with declining fuel sales offsetting rising merchandising sales.