Finance & Capital Management

Ann Inc., parent company of Ann Taylor and The Loft, expects net sales and same-store sales to increase for the fourth quarter and full year fiscal 2013, on a year-over-year basis.

For the full year, Ann Inc. issued guidance for total net sales of $2.49 billion, reflecting a total net sales increase of 5% and a same-store sales increase of 2%.

San Francisco -- Gap Inc. posted strong sales for January and issued a fourth-quarter profit forecast that topped expectations.

The retailer said its same-store sales rose 1% in January. Analysts had expected a drop of 1.3%. Net sales for the four weeks that ended Feb. 1 were $899 million, compared with net sales of $1.13 billion for the five-week period ended Feb. 2, 2013.

For the fourth quarter, net sales were $4.58 billion, compared with $4.73 billion a year earlier.

Kirkland’s reported improved year-over-year net sales for the full fiscal year 2014 but a decrease in the fourth quarter, thanks to severe weather-related declines in traffic throughout December, which affected important weekend sales days.

Net sales increased 2.7% to $460.6 million during fiscal 2014, compared with $448.4 million the prior fiscal year, while same-store sales rose 0.5%.

During the fourth quarter, net sales decreased 4.2% to $156.1 million, compared with $162.9 million in the previous fourth quarter. Same-store sales were flat.

Virginia Beach, Va. — Ingenuity Development has entered into a strategic alliance with a New York Stock Exchange-traded Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) to combine forces on joint venture opportunities for retail and mixed-use projects in the Mid-Atlantic and the Southeast. Ingenuity will also see opportunities to work with its affiliate, Divaris Real Estate, to lease and manage completed projects.

Digital coupon marketplace RetailMeNot said that its investments are paying off, following a strong performance in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2013.

The company reported net revenues for the quarter of $78.5 million, an increase of 55% compared to $50.8 million the prior-year quarter. Organic net revenues, which exclude net revenues from acquired businesses not owned during both comparative periods, increased 50%.  

Plano, Texas – J.C. Penney Company has entered into a new partnership to develop the vacant land around its Plano, Texas, home office in the Legacy Business Park. The new partnership will be managed by Team Legacy, a venture of the Karahan Companies, Columbus Realty, and KDC.

CVSL is a growing group of micro-enterprise companies that connect social media networks into an ever-expanding virtual community of social commerce, and it has just named Richard Holt as VP of finance and controller.

Holt has for the past two and a half years served as CFO at Agel Enterprises, which became part of CVSL last September. He previously spent five years as corporate controller for Raser Technologies in Provo, Utah. During a previous stint at Agel, he was instrumental in the early stages of that company's development.  

New York – Ann Inc., parent company of Ann Taylor and The Loft, expects net sales and same-store sales to increase for the fourth quarter and full year fiscal 2013, on a year-over-year basis. For the full year, Ann Inc. issued guidance for total net sales of $2.49 billion, reflecting a total net sales increase of 5% and a same-store sales increase of 2%.