Finance & Capital Management

The Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) received a $450,000 grant from Sam’s Club to support women veteran entrepreneurs through its business management training program V-WISE, Veteran Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship.

San Francisco – Williams-Sonoma had a strong first quarter of fiscal 2014, with net income climbing 17% to a better-than-expected $46.16 million from $39.17 million.

Net sales grew 10% to $974.33 million from $887.8 million, also topping estimates.

Total same-store sales grew 10%. Williams-Sonoma credited much of its success during the quarter to market share gains and advantages conferred by its multichannel operations.

While many retailers were still reeling from a prolonged winter that hurt their first quarter results, Michaels saw solid results in its first quarter, posting increases in both net and comparable-store sales.

Atlanta – Lease-to-own retailer Aaron’s Inc. has named Sharon Lawrence VP finance and Kirby Salgado as VP merchandising. Lawrence, formerly Aaron's director of franchise finance, joined Aaron's in 2012 after a 25-plus year career at SunTrust Bank, while Salgado most recently served as VP/general merchandise manager for Sears Holdings.

San Bruno, Calif. – Wal-Mart is reportedly planning to substantially expand its e-commerce operation based in Sunnyvale, California. According to the Oakland Tribune, Wal-Mart intends to add hundreds of staffers to its global e-commerce unit there, bringing the total number of e-commerce employees to about 1,000.

In addition, Wal-Mart will lease a 107,000-sq.-ft. space in Sunnyvale to help house its e-commerce operations. Currently, the retailer employs about 550 e-commerce employees in Sunnyvale at an existing facility it will maintain.

Dole announced a succession plan for two of its operational divisions, which includes internal candidates transitioning to more substantial leadership roles.

“We have implemented the following succession plan at two of our operating divisions,” said Michael Carter, Dole’s president and chief operating officer. “David Murdock and I are pleased to have the following internal successors at our Vegetables and North America Fresh Fruit divisions:

Minneapolis -- Target Corp. posted a 16% drop in first quarter earnings as costs related to its data breach and the company's troubled Canadian operations continue to take a toll on its overall performance. The retailer also cut its annual profit forecast and released a second quarter projection below Street expectations. On a positive note, Target's same-store sales metric improved from the last quarter.

Bad weather for retail dampened sales at Lowe's, but earnings surged well into the double digits for the first quarter, the company announced Wednesday morning.

Lowe's sales increased 2.4% in the first quarter, rising to $13.4 billion. Comparable-store sales increased 0.9%.

The Mooresville, North Carolina-based retail giant reported a net earnings surge of 15.6% to $624 million for the quarter ended May 2.