Finance & Capital Management

It’s going to be a busy spring for Stein Mart.   The Florida-based chain will open five stores this spring –– the first phase of its 2017 store plan to open a total of 11 new stores. The remainder of the locations will open in the fall.    “These new stores fall within our real estate strategy to grow sales by filling existing markets where we are doing well,” said Hunt Hawkins, CEO of Stein Mart, which operates 290 stores.   

An Indianapolis-based appliance and electronics chain is bringing in outside help as it struggles with sinking sales.    Hhgregg announced that it has engaged subsidiaries of Stifel Financial Corp. for advice on potential strategic and financial transactions as the retailer works to improve liquidity and return to profitability.  

The CEOs of Gap, Best Buy, Target Corp., J.C. Penney and several other national retailers met with President Trump on Wednesday to discuss tax reform and to make their case against the so-called border tax adjustment.  

The formerly high-flying Nasty Gal has been brought down to earth — and not in a good way.   The bankrupt fashion retailer will close its two Los Angeles-area stores by the end of February, the Wall Street Journal reported.    On Feb. 8, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California approved the sale of Nasty Gal’s intellectual property and customer database to British online fashion retailer Boohoo.com, which is seeking to speed up its expansion in the United States. 

The year kicks off with a respectable set of retail sales numbers that show continued momentum in the consumer economy. The overall growth rate of 4.9% is a little way above the average monthly growth rate of 3.3% recorded in 2016, something that will give retailers some cheer as they head into 2017.  

Retail sales sizzled in January, beating expectations. Even the struggling department store sector managed to beat the odds.   Retail sales, excluding automobiles and gasoline, grew 0.4% in January, according to the National Retail Federation. (The numbers exclude automobiles, gasoline stations and restaurants)  

Companies that suffer a data breach are subject to customer, opportunity and revenue losses well exceeding 20%.   This was according to the “2017 Annual Cybersecurity Report (ACR),” from Cisco, which surveyed nearly 3,000 chief security officers (CSOs) and security operations leaders from 13 countries in the “Security Capabilities Benchmark Study,” part of the ACR.  

RCS Real Estate Advisors will receive a Turnaround Award from M&A Advisor later this month for its work in the reorganization of Pacific Sunwear.  

Columbia Sportswear’s prAna brand has become the industry’s latest cyber-breach victims.   When the lifestyle brand’s e-commerce site was targeted last week, the incident lead Columbia to “immediately launch an investigation and engage a leading third-party cyber security firm to assist us,” Columbia’s CEO Timothy Boyle said on the company’s Q4 2016 earnings call on Feb. 9. “Protecting our customers' information is one of our top priorities and we are taking this very seriously.”

BJ’s Wholesale Club could see a change in ownership.   The company’s private equity owners, Leonard Green & Partners and CVS Capital Partners Ltd., are hiring investment bankers to advise them on options, reported the Wall Street Journal.   The two buyout firms acquired BJ’s in 2011 for approximately $3 billion. The retailer, which is based in Westborough, Massachusetts, operates 213 stores and 130 BJ's Gas locations 15 states.