Finance & Capital Management

Salt Lake City – A 23% increase in Overstock.com’s sales and marketing expense helped reduce its second quarter fiscal 2014 net income to $1.9 million, down 48% from $3.7 million in the same period a year earlier. Revenue grew 13% to $332.5 million, from $293.2 million.

Patrick M. Byrne, CEO and chairman of Overstock.com, cited increases in technology spending as helping the company to quickly conceive and execute new ideas such as a recently launched consumer credit facility.

Supervalu posted $5.23 billion in net sales for the first quarter, a decrease of 0.1% from $5.24 billion last year; but president and CEO Sam Duncan expressed confidence in the company’s performance, saying it is off to a solid start across business segments.

“Our first quarter results reflect the investments we are making this year to position the company for future success and I am pleased with our operating performance,” said Duncan.

New York -- American Apparel Inc. announced  four new directors to its board, including the company’s first-ever female board member, Colleen Brown, a former CEO of Fisher Communications, and former Walgreens executive Joseph Magnacca, who took the reins as CEO of RadioShack last year.  

The other new directors are  David Glazek, a partner with hedge fund Standard General, which holds a nearly 44% stake in American Apparel, and Thomas J. Sullivan, a director of Media General.

O’Reilly Automotive, the nation’s second largest auto parts retailer, said it is on track to open 200 new stores this year after posting its 22nd consecutive quarter of profit growth in excess of 15%.

Pittsburgh – Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. has reportedly laid off 478 PGA golf pros who were providing in-store services such as golf lessons and club repairs. According to Fox Business, Dick’s made the cuts as golf sales and participation rates decline.

Eden Prairie, Minn. – The loss of a large tax benefit caused Supervalu’s net income to plummet 49% in the first quarter of fiscal 2015 to $43 million from $85 million in the year-ago period.

Revenue slipped to $5.23 billion from $5.24 billion.

Miami -- Ryder System, a leader in commercial fleet management and supply chain management solutions, announced the launch of its new “That’s Ryder” brand advertising campaign. The campaign, the first of its kind for Ryder in nearly two decades, includes the debut of a new tagline for the company – Ever better.

Rite Aid has appointed former Roundy’s executive Darren Karst as EVP and CFO, effective Aug. 20, to succeed Frank Vitrano, who has announced he will retire in Sept. 2015. Karst will report to Rite Aid’s chairman and CEO John Standley.

Karst will be responsible for all aspects of the company’s finance, accounting, treasury, tax, investor relations, legal, risk management, internal assurance and asset protection functions.