Finance & Capital Management

Chattanooga, Tenn. — In an April 11 conference call, CBL & Associates Properties provided an in-depth review of its business strategy, including a number of initiatives designed to enhance shareholder value.

On the conference call, the Company outlined the following goals and objectives through a slide presentation:

Position the portfolio to produce sustained same-center net operating income (NOI) growth of 2-4%, about double the current range of 1%-2%;

Las Cruces, New Mexico — The family-fun Natural Grocers has opened its fifth New Mexico location in Las Cruces at 3970 E. Lohman Avenue.

The national chain has locations across Colorado, Texas, Utah, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Missouri, New Mexico, Montana, Kansas, Idaho, Nebraska, Arizona and Oregon.

Founded in 2007, Julep is a fast-growing omnichannel beauty brand that takes a social approach to product development. The brand, which is perhaps best known for its monthly beauty box delivery program, has raised $30 million in Series C financing.

New investors Azure Capital, Madrona Venture Group and Altimeter Capital, as well as existing investors Andreessen Horowitz and Maveron, participated in the round. The new investment brings Julep's total venture funding to $56 million.

Washington, D.C. – Spurred by warmer spring weather, U.S. retail sales, which exclude automobiles, gas stations and restaurants, increased 0.8% adjusted month-to-month in March and 1.6% unadjusted year-over-year, according to estimates from the National Retail Federation (NRF).

San Francisco -- Levi Strauss & Co. has named former Walmart executive Marc Rosen as executive VP and president of global e-commerce, effective May 5.

Rosen was most recently senior VP of global e-commerce at Walmart, where he was responsible for designing, building, operating and expanding Walmart.com. He also served as senior VP of information systems, with responsibility for Walmart’s global merchandising, supply chain and store systems

Sandton, South Africa – Grant Pattison, CEO of Massmart Holdings Ltd., a South African retailer that operates as a subsidiary of Wal-Mart, is resigning. Pattison, 43, will be replaced by Massmart COO Guy Hayward, 48, on June 1, as part of what the company terms a smooth succession plan.

Pattison joined Massmart in 1998 and was appointed CEO in 2007. He was CEO when Massmart sold a majority stake to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Hayward has served with Massmart since 2000, receiving appointments as CFO in 2001 and COO in 2012.

Zynga, a leading social game developer, has appointed former Best Buy executive David Lee as CFO and chief accounting officer, effective April 14. Lee will report directly to CEO Don Mattrick.

He succeeds CFO and CAO Mark Vranesh who is leaving the company. Vranesh will work with Lee over the next month to ensure a seamless transition of responsibilities, according to the company.

Because the Easter holiday is in April this year rather than in March as it was last year, Gap already expected March to be a challenging month performance-wise.  

The retailer reported net sales of $1.5 billion for the five-week period ended April 5. Comparable sales for March were down 6% versus a 1 % decrease last year.

“While March performance has been challenging, we remain confident in the opportunities ahead,” said chairman and CEO Glenn Murphy. “We are pleased to reaffirm our full-year EPS guidance range.”