Finance & Capital Management

Toronto - OfficeMax Grand & Toy, an affiliate of Office Depot, Inc., will close all of its 19 Canadian retail stores. OfficeMax Grand & Toy will continue to service its business customers via the company’s e-commerce website, customer service centers and direct sales representatives.

Seattle – Amazon.com’s net income soared 32% during the first quarter of fiscal 2014, climbing to $108 million from $82 million the same quarter a year earlier. Net sales increased 23% to $19.74 billion in the first quarter, compared with $16.07 billion in first quarter 2013.

Top executives within Walmart’s international division have been assigned new responsibilities including a new role for the former head of Asian operations overseeing mergers and acquisitions.

Sunbury, Pa. – Weis Markets plans to invest $101 million in its growth program in 2014. That figure encompasses spending on 16 projects during 2014, including expansion of Weis’ 1.1-million-sq.-ft. distribution center in Milton, Pennsylvania.

Foothill Ranch, Calif. - The Wet Seal Inc. will begin winding down its Arden B brand. Arden B currently operates 54 mall-based stores and an e-commerce website.

Miami – Consolidated net income at Burger King Worldwide Inc. grew 68.7% year-over-year during the first quarter of fiscal 2014, rising to $60.4 million from $35.8 million. In the same period, total revenues fell 26.5% to $240.9 million from $327.7 million.

Systemwide same-store sales grew 2%. Burger King cited severe weather as negatively affecting North American sales, as well as the net refranchising of 327 company-owned stores during the quarter. The retailer attributed its net income growth to improvement in overseas EBITDA performance.

The Wet Seal is winding down its Arden B brand. Arden B currently operates 54 mall-based stores and an e-commerce site. In the fiscal year ended Feb. 1, the brand generated net sales of $60.4 million and represented 11% of consolidated net sales.

“This was a difficult decision that followed a comprehensive review of the business and market dynamics. We would like to thank all of our Arden B team members for their hard work and dedication to the brand, and also extend our gratitude to our loyal customers,” said CEO John D. Goodman.

Washington, D.C. - The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged a former executive with insider trading in advance of EBay’s acquisition of the e-commerce company GSI Commerce where he worked, by tipping friends and relatives with confidential information about the pending deal so they could attain more than $300,000 in illegal profits.