Finance & Capital Management

Savannah, Ga. -- Citi Trends said Wednesday it has secured a new, five-year, $50 million credit facility through Bank of America to replace its prior $20 million credit facility.

The new facility includes a $25 million uncommitted “accordion” feature that under certain circumstances could allow the company to increase the size of the facility to $75 million.
 

Bentonville, Ark. -- Walmart chief merchandising officer Duncan Mac Naughton expressed optimism about the retailer’s prospects for the holiday season and beyond during comments at a Bentonville Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce meeting with attracted more than 500 people. The function was held on Tuesday.

Indianapolis -- Electronics and appliance retailer Hhgregg reported Wednesday that net income for the quarter ended Sept. 30 rose to $6 million from $3.9 million in the year-ago period.

Sales for the period rose 29% to $618.6 million. Same-store sales rose 1.5%, returning to positive growth after a 5% decline last quarter.

Chicago -- A Wednesday report by Challenger, Gray & Christmas said that job cuts announced by U.S. employers increased in October from the same month last year.

According to the report, planned firings rose 13% to 42,759, from 37,986 in October 2010, boosted by job cuts by government agencies and financial companies.

Denton, Texas -- Sally Beauty Holdings said Wednesday it has acquired Netherlands-based Kappersservice Floral and two related companies, Hair Zone and Exphair as part of the company’s international growth strategy.

Secaucus, N.J. -- Syms Corp. and its Filene’s Basement subsidiary said Wednesday that they have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and will liquidate all stores and assets over the coming several months. Syms acquired the century-old Filene’s out of bankruptcy in 2009 for $63 million.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Sears Holdings announced that its Shop Your Way Rewards members can now receive 5% back on all qualifying purchases at Sears and Kmart stores through Jan. 28, 2012. 

"We know budgets are tight, so we want to reward our customers by offering them ways to stretch their dollar," said Dave Friedman, SVP and president marketing at Sears Holdings. "We believe this program will help families get more out of every visit to Sears and Kmart when they use their Sears card."

DALLAS — Zale Corp. announced that Subha Ramesh has been named SVP real estate. Ramesh will report to Matt Appel, chief administrative officer.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Retail Inflation, a strong fuelperks! rewards program and increased sales at remodeled stores helped grow identical-store sales at Winn-Dixie Stores by 3.3% during the first quarter of fiscal 2012. This increase was also aided by a 5.5% increase in basket size, but partially offset by a 2.1% decrease in transaction count. The company announced that net sales for the first quarter were $1.6 billion, an increase of $48.2 million or 3.1% compared with the same period in the prior fiscal year. 

MINNEAPOLIS — The unexpected announcement that Target EVP and CFO Doug Scovanner will retire on March 31, 2012 has investors speculating about the reasons for his departure following the recent exit of other key executives.

Analysts at Bernstein Research pointed to the fact that no successor has been named, suggesting that the retirement was not a long planned for event. However, the firm said it believes that despite the unexpected news, this appears to be a true retirement and doesn't anticipate seeing Scovanner in a CFO role at another major company.