Finance & Capital Management

The J. M. Smucker Company has elevated John Denman to VP of human resource operations, effective July 16, and has also elevated Jill Penrose to VP of human resources, effective July 1.

Denman currently serves as VP, controller and chief accounting officer, and has been with the company for more than 30 years in various leadership positions in accounting and finance.

Toronto -- Hudson's Bay Co. (HBC) swung to a profit in its first quarter, boosted by strong sales at Saks Inc., which it acquired last year. Hudson's Bay has announced plans to bring Saks to Canada, starting with two locations in Toronto in 2015.

San Jose, Calif. -- Hispanic supermarket chain Mi Pueblo Foods announced its formal emergence from Chapter 11 reorganization after having completed a necessary financial restructuring. The company also announced that Javier Ramirez has been named president and CEO. He will succeed Mi Pueblo founder Juvenal Chavez, who will be named chairman of the board.
 
Ramirez is a seasoned CEO in the Hispanic food and grocery sector.
   

Five Below plans to open eight locations in and around Houston Friday, June 6, marking the specialty value retailer’s first foray into that city. The company already has 15 stores in the Dallas and Austin markets.

The store openings are part of the company’s aggressive growth strategy. Last year, the Philadelphia-based retailer opened 60 new stores, and it plans to match that number this year. With the Houston openings, there will be 338 Five Below stores in 20 states throughout the country.

As if having to deal with the rising threat of data breaches weren’t already enough for retailers, many continue to struggle to make sense of today’s rough patchwork of federal and state data breach laws.

Fortunately, while legislation that would establish a national data breach standard has yet to gain significant traction, the Obama Administration and Congress are ramping up joint efforts to establish a uniform, national law that would replace the current fabric of state requirements.  

SGK, formerly marketed as Schawk, a leading global brand development, activation and deployment company that drives brand performance, has appointed Andrew Flynn as SVP of brand strategy.

In this new role, Flynn will focus on identifying and developing strategic brand solutions for clients to help drive brand performance by leveraging the services offered by Brandimage and Anthem, part of SGK's brand development group, and Schawk, the company's brand deployment business.

Hudson's Bay Company more than doubled sales in the first quarter driven primarily by its acquisition of Saks last year.

Retail sales were $1.9 billion, an increase of $971 million from $884 million for the prior year. Consolidated same-store sales increased by 2.8%, with increases of 2.5% at DSG, 2.6% at Saks Fifth Avenue and 15.1% at Off 5th. Digital commerce sales totaled $207 million, reflecting both the inclusion of Hudson's Bay and Lord & Taylor (which together are referred to as “Department Store Group” or DSG) and Saks.