Finance & Capital Management

Columbus, Ohio - Big Lots Inc. has promoted Timothy A. Johnson to executive VP, CFO. Johnson has served as CFO since 2012 with primary responsibility for all financial disciplines within the company including financial reporting and controls, treasury, risk management, tax, internal audit, financial planning and analysis, and investor relations.

National Retail Federation president and CEO Matthew Shay and chief economist Jack Kleinhenz issued a response to the organization’s February jobs report.

“While there are signs of modest momentum in the economy, now is not the time to play partisan politics with the recovery by forcing federal mandates on retailers and small business owners like an increase in the minimum wage,” Shay said. “Such policy decisions could hamper economic growth and actually drive up the unemployment rate.”

San Francisco – Gap Inc. had a disappointing February 2014 as net sales and same-store sales declined, compared to the same month in the prior year. Net sales fell 4% to $929 million from $966 million, while same-store sales dropped 7%.

The Bon-Ton Stores is investing in its growing e-commerce business. The company has signed a lease with Duke Realty Corp for a 743,000-sq.-ft., automated, direct-to-consumer fulfillment center in West Jefferson, Ohio.

The company expects the facility to be fully operational and ship its first orders in spring of 2015.

New York -- Supervalu directors Mark Neporent and Lenard Tessler have stepped down from the company’s board of directors as a result of Cerberus-owned Albertsons’ deal to acquire Safeway.

Neporent and Tessler were both appointed to the Supervalu board in 2013 as designees of Symphony Investors, a Cerberus Capital Management L.P.-led investor consortium. Symphony Investors owns approximately 20.9% of Supervalu’s outstanding common stock, and has the right to designate replacement directors for Neporent and Tessler.

Foster City, Calif. – Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. are teaming up to create a new group that will focus on improving payment system security. The group will include banks, credit unions, retailers and initially focus on adoption of EMV (Europay, MasterCard, Visa)-compliant card technology in the U.S. in advance of the October 2015 liability deadline.

The group will also study tokenization, or the replacement of customer account numbers with unique digital payment codes, and also cooperate with other industry groups.

Boston – Wayfair has raised $157 million in equity financing to fuel continued growth of the company's portfolio of home brands. The Series B investment round, led by funds and accounts managed by T. Rowe Price Associates Inc., encompassed a limited number of key investors, including growth-focused mutual funds, as well as a private investment from Julie M.B. Bradley, TripAdvisor CFO and Wayfair board member.

Foot Locker enjoyed record results for the fourth quarter and full year ended Feb. 1, and expects to build on that momentum in 2014.

For the quarter, the company reported net income of $121 million, or $0.81 per share, for the 13 weeks ended Feb. 1. This represents an increase of 19% over earnings per share of $0.68 for the 14-week period ended Feb. 2, 2013.