Finance & Capital Management

Christopher & Banks has appointed former National Stores executive Lynn C. Derry as SVP and general merchandise manager.

York, Pa. -- The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. announced the appointment of Kathryn Bufano to the position of president and CEO, effective Aug. 25. Bufano has served as the president and chief merchandising officer of Belk Inc. since 2010.

Bufano replaces outgoing president and CEO Brendan Hoffman, who announced his resignation.

After a delay of several days, Lumber Liquidators has reported second-quarter results, nearly three weeks after the company revised its full-year guidance, which caused its stock to plummet in recent days.

Net sales for the quarter increased by 2.3%, totaling $263.1 million, compared with $257.1 million in the same quarter last year. But comparable-store sales decreased by 7.1%, with the average sale declining 1.8%. Net income was $16.6 million for the three months ended June 30, down 18.7% from last year's $20.4 million.

Laval, Canada - Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. will acquire 55 Super Pantry convenience stores and related assets from Tri Star Marketing Inc. Fifty-one of the stores are located in the state of Illinois ,and four stores located in the state of Indiana. These stores offer Phillips 66 and Mobil branded motor fuel.

Cincinnati - The Kroger Co. Cincinnati/Dayton Division associates working at Kroger stores in metro and surrounding areas have ratified a new labor agreement with UFCW Local 75. It merges the formerly separate Cincinnati and Dayton contracts.

The contract covers 12,766 associates working in 76 stores in Cincinnati, and 4,945 associates working in 32 stores in Dayton.

San Francisco – Twitter reported a net loss of $144.6 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2014, up from $42.2 million in the same period a year earlier. Stock compensation drove the increase in net loss.

Revenue more than doubled to $312.17 million from $139.29 million. In Twitter-specific metrics, average monthly users grew 24% to 271 million. Seventy-eight percent those users were mobile, a 29% increase from the same period a year earlier.

Same-store sales continue to decelerate at Whole Foods as the nation’s leading natural and organic grocer continues to face traffic and ticket pressures caused by upstart rivals and established competitors.

Bangalore, India – Indian e-commerce platform Flipkart has received about $1 billion in funding from investors including existing backer Tiger Global Management, as well as new stakeholders Morgan Stanley and Singapore-based sovereign wealth fund GIC. Flipkart operates as an online marketplace for 3,000 individual merchants, similar to China’s Alibaba.com.