Finance & Capital Management

Just a few weeks after taking over several regional bedding companies, Mattress Firm reported profits of $15.6 million or 45 cents per share, compared to $18.1 million or 53 cents per share for the year-ago quarter. Sales for the third quarter increased 42.3% to $464 million from $326 million a year ago, reflecting same-store sales growth of 8.5%.

Online sales are expected to reach $300 billion in 2014, $335 billion in 2015 and $512 billion by 2020.

According to business forecasting experts at FTI Consulting Inc., online sales will continue to grow at a double-digit rate for the next several years.

St. Petersburg, Fla. - HSN Inc. has named Jeffrey Kuster as president of Cornerstone and executive officer of HSNi. Kuster, 48, has held various leadership positions in the apparel, fashion and retail industries, most recently as executive VP, chief marketing and strategy officer for Berkshire Hathaway's Fruit of the Loom.  

Improved e-commerce and marketing strategies are among the reasons Shoe Carnival President and CEO Cliff Sifford cited for the company’s increase in same store sales.

Mooresville, N.C. – Lowe’s Companies Inc. will open three new stores in Canada, starting with a 94,500-sq.-ft. store in Lethbridge, Alberta in spring 2015. Lowe’s also plans to open an 86,000-sq.-ft. store in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and a 75,000-sq.-ft. store in Saulte Ste. Marie, Ontario.  

After nearly a decade of stalled growth in the shopping center industry, 2014 finally saw progress being made on the new development front. While it’s true that much of the ground-up construction was of the outlet center ilk, the value sector wasn’t the only new-build push. Mixed-use properties and open-air destinations continue to come out of the ground, albeit stingily, as do hybrid centers that defy current standard definitions.

Memphis, Tenn. – Fred’s Inc. swung to a net loss of $10.4 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2014, compared to net income of $7.3 million in the same quarter a year earlier. Costs associated with closing five underperforming stores in the third quarter, and an anticipated 47 stores in the fourth quarter, contributed to the loss, which exceeded Wall Street projections. However Fred’s beat the Street with third quarter sales of$476.2 million, up 3% from $460.5 million. Same-store sales rose 0.3%.

New York - Manhattan’s high-profile Fifth Avenue, at a whopping $3,550 per sq. ft., and Hong Kong’s Queen’s Road Central, at $2,073 per sq. ft., stand out as the most expensive retail rents in the world, according to Colliers International. Rounding out the top five are Hong Kong’s Canton Road, Manhattan’s Madison Avenue and Paris’ Champs Elysees. (See end of story for a more complete list.)