Finance & Capital Management

Mall-based specialty retailer Aeropostale has appointed Julian R. Geiger as CEO, effective immediately — a role he previously held until 2010. Geiger succeeds Thomas P. Johnson, a former Brooks Brother executive who replaced Geiger after he left.

In 2011, Geiger was appointed president and CEO of Crumbs Bake Shop. He resigned from Crumbs at the end of December 2013, and rejoined the Aeropostale board in May, and will remain a member.

Framingham, Mass. -- TJX Cos. said Tuesday that its second-quarter net income increased a better-than-expected 8% on strong sales in the United States and abroad. The retailer also lifted its full-year earnings forecast.

TJX earned $517.6 million for the period ended Aug. 2, compared with $479.6 million a year earlier.

Revenue rose 7% to $6.92 billion from $6.44 billion, beating Wall Street's estimate of $6.88 billion.

A 6.4% second quarter same store sales increase at U.S. stores enabled Home Depot to handily exceed analysts’ profit estimates and prompted the company to increase its full year outlook.

New York -- Dick’s Sporting Goods reported second quarter net income of $69.5 million, below expectations, compared to $84.2 million the prior year. Its results included a $20.4 million charge related to restructuring of the company’s golf business,

The retailer reported $1.7 billion in revenue, up 10.3% from the same period last year and in line with estimates. E-commerce sales increased to 6.3% of sales, from 5.6% of sales the prior year.

Dick’s Sporting Goods overcame weakness in its golf and hunting businesses to generate much better than expected second quarter same store sales and made further inroads in e-commerce.

New York -- As analysts begin to speculate about the acquisition scenarios for Family Dollar – whether by Dollar Tree or Dollar General – one thing is clear: some store closures will occur.

According to a report by Wall Street Journal Online, a Dollar General takeover would close more stores than if Dollar Tree wins the bid. Dollar General said it is prepared to divest up to 700 of the combined company’s approximate 19,600 stores to satisfy antitrust regulators.
 

Mars has appointed Jean-Christophe Flatin as president of global chocolate, effective Oct. 1. Flatin, who is currently global president of Royal Canin, a unit of Mars Petcare, replaces Grant F. Reid, who recently moved into the role of office of the president for Mars.

New York -- GameStop Corp. said CEO Paul Raines had unexpected surgery last week for a small cancerous brain tumor.

Raines, who will be undergoing chemotherapy, will restrict his travel during the expected six weeks of treatment, the company said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday.

GameStop said the treatment period would not interfere with Raines' "continued leadership" of the company.