Finance & Capital Management

New York -- Rwanda, Nigeria, Namibia, Tanzania and Gabon occupied the top five places of the first-ever A.T. Kearney African Retail Development Index (ARDI), a new study designed to help large, organized retailers determine where and how to best enter Sub-Saharan Africa's rapidly growing retail market. The ARDI not only identifies the markets in Africa most attractive for retail expansion today, but those that offer the most potential in the future.

Lands' End will be back on its own as a publicly traded company following a formal announcement by parent company Sears Holdings to spin off the well-known apparel brand.

The move follows years of speculation that Sears would divest the brand, which it acquired in May 2002 for $62 a share. At the time, Lands' End was a publicly traded company with revenues of nearly $1.6 billion, profits of $67 million and earnings per share of $2.23. The $62 a share Sears paid 12 years ago represented a 21.5% premium over the closing pricing of $51.02 prior to the announcement of the deal.

Hong Kong – Chinese e-commerce platform provider Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is reportedly planning a U.S. initial public offering (IPO). According to Bloomberg, Alibaba has received approval from Hong Kong regulators for its proposed governance structure.

REI, a leading specialty retailer of outdoor gear and apparel, achieved record annual sales of $2 billion in 2013, up 5.9% from $1.9 billion the previous year, despite a challenging retail environment and severe winter weather.

Comparable store sales, including direct-to-consumer sales, increased 2.9%.

Birmingham, Ala. – Net income and sales declined at Hibbett Sports Inc. during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013. Net income dropped 13% from $19.6 million in the fourth quarter of the prior fiscal year to $16.4 million, while net sales inched upward 0.2% to $217.8 million from $217.4 million.

Same-store sales rose 1.7% during the quarter. Hibbett Sports cited slowing sales in January due to inclement weather and a less favorable sales impact from the national college football championship game as impacting net income.

One day after Walmart announced a deeper commitment to domestic sourcing, Whirlpool said it planned to spend $40 million on U.S. manufacturing plant that will result in the creation of 400 jobs by 2018. The investment will double the size of Whirlpool’s plant in Greenville, Ohio, where KitchenAid brand small appliances are made, and bring the total workforce at the facility to about 1,400 employees. The plant has been in operation since 1942, and Whirlpool said it will launch the expansion project following final approval of state and local assistance.

Ottawa, Canada - Target dropped prices on its monitored assortment by more than 20% during the days leading up to its confirmation of the data breach that compromised the security of 70 million customers’ personal information during the pre-holiday shopping season. According to data from 360pi analyzing approximately 830 products across eight categories, including TVs, tablets, digital cameras and more, Target dropped its prices by 18% between Dec. 14 and Dec. 17.

Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores said fourth-quarter same-store sales declined 3.4% as two of the company’s best known brand had disappointing results. Sales in the fourth quarter declined 4.5% to $602.4 million due to the combination of a 3.4% same-store sales decline and an extra week in the fourth quarter the prior year, which added sales of $36.5 million. The same-store sales decline was made up of a 4% decline at the Hometown division and 1.5% decline at the outlet division.