Finance & Capital Management

New York -- Swedish retailer Ikea has bought a wind farm in Ireland to power its furniture stores in Dublin and Belfast, according to a report by the Belfast Telegraph.

The Irish facility’s four turbines are expected to generate 25,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity and bring the total number of Ikea-owned windmills to more than 100 in the U.K., Germany, France, Poland, Denmark and Sweden.

Ace Hardware Corp. experienced sales gains in nearly every department, leading to second-quarter revenue of $1.74 billion, a 9.7% increase from $1.07 billion. Net income increased to $42.3 million, compared to net income of $14.9 million in the same quarter last year.

CEO John Venhuizen said the co-op is plaese with the results so far in 2013. "Sales increased in virtually every department with significant growth at both wholesale and retail from our Discovery Edge, Level 3 merchandising re-sets and branding inititatives," he said. 

Deborah Cavanagh has joined women’s specialty retailer Coldwater Creek as SVP and chief marketing officer after serving in a similar capacity at the LOFT division of Ann Taylor.

Cavanagh will join the company September 16 and lead multi-channel brand marketing and creative services, reporting directly to Coldwater Creek president and CEO Jill Dean. Her appointment follows the release of disappointing first quarter results that saw same store sales at the operator of 347 stores decline 10.5%

Cincinnati -- Macy’s scaled back its earnings guidance for the remainder of the year in the wake of lower-than-expected net income for the second quarter of fiscal 2013. The retailer reported net income of $281 million, up from $279 million in the year ago period, but short of the roughly $304 million analysts had expected.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Winn-Dixie has its eye on back-to-school shoppers who are stretching budgets at the height of the back-to-school season. It plans on freezing prices throughout a 10-week period on hundreds of products across every category and department across the store. 

New York -- Canadian home-improvement retailer Rona reported a loss of $136.5 million for the second quarter, compared with a profit of $36.9 million a year earlier, hurt by restructuring costs and tightened market conditions.

According to a report by Reuters, Rona revenue fell 4.6% to $1.21 billion, and same-store sales dipped 1%. Analysts expected revenue of $1.35 billion.

ALBANY, N.Y. — Trans World Entertainment has appointed veteran retail executive Martin Hanaka to its board of directors. Hanaka recently was the interim CEO of Guitar Center, Inc. from January 2013 to April 2013.

Disappointing second quarter sales at Macy’s prompted the nation’s leading department store operator to temper its outlook for the remainder of the year, heightening concerns about the health of the consumer just as other major retailers are due to report financial results in the weeks ahead.

Sales declined 0.8% to slightly more than $6 billion and same store sales fell by a similar amount during the second quarter period ended August 3. Profits increased 7.5% to 72 cents from 67 cents, but that figure was six cents less that analysts forecast.