International Business

Berlin, Germany –- Five leading German retailers are partnering with U.S. shopping app Shopkick. At launch, Shopkick’s German network is comprised of more than 1,400 stores: all Douglas (largest beauty retailer in Germany), Media Markt and Saturn (together the largest consumer electronics retail chain in Germany), OBI (one of the largest do-it-yourself retailers in Germany) and Karstadt (one of the largest department stores in Germany) locations.

Scottsdale, Ariz. -- GE Capital’s Franchise Finance business announced its first financing for the Corner Bakery Café brand. It  comes in the form of a $5.6 million loan to Texas-based MX Restaurants and Bakeries, which already operates seven Corner Bakery restaurants in the Houston and South Texas markets. MX will use these funds to pay off short-term debt related to a recent acquisition and to develop four additional units.  

Watsonville, Calif. –- A tax valuation allowance related to its Canadian operations helped reduce net income at West Marine Inc. to $4.9 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2014, down 24% from $6.5 million in the same period the prior fiscal year. Net revenues were $196.5 million, a 2% jump from $193.4 million, and same-store sales rose 0.6%.  

Cheshunt, U.K. –- Sir Richard Broadbent, chairman of Tesco PLC, will step down in the wake of a 99% drop in net income for the first half of fiscal 2014. Tesco reported first half profits of $9.6 million, about $333 million less than previous estimates.  

Oak Brook, Ill. -- Retail Properties of America, Inc. announced that it was assigned a BBB-corporate credit rating from Standard and Poor’s Ratings Services with a stable outlook.    S&P indicated in its announcement that the rating reflects RPAI’s measured investment and operating strategy, and strengthening portfolio fundamentals.   

By Sandy Kennedy, president of RILA
   (Editor’s note: The president of the Retail Industry Leaders Association, Sandy Kennedy, wrote the following op-ed in The Hill, discussing why chip-and-PIN is one important layer of protection retailers, banks and the government can provide consumers.)  

New York -- Retail design guru Rodney Fitch, 78, died on Oct. 20 at his home in Wiltshire, England, following a battle with cancer.    Fitch founded the design firm of the same name in 1972, and was appointed Commander of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1990 for his ‘influence on the British Design Industry’.   He left Fitch, which is now owned by WPP, at the end of 2009.  

Niwot, Colo. -- Crocs Inc. is enacting several key management changes, including the appointment of Bob Munroe to general manager of Crocs Americas region; Greg Sullivan to the new role of senior VP of global business transformation; Scott Yuan to general manager of Greater China; and Michelle Poole to senior VP of global product creation and merchandising.  

Former Snyder’s-Lance CEO David V. Singer is the newest member of the board of directors at apparel manufacturer HanesBrands.

Singer, 59, joins the 10 member board through the 2015 annual meeting when directors stand for re-election. He will serve on the company’s audit committee.

The world’s leading beverage company is intensify efforts to generate high single digit earnings per share growth after strategies introduced earlier this year have been slow to take hold and third quarter earnings fell 13%.

Coca-Cola Company CEO Muhtar Kent unveiled a new slate of actions to reinvigorate growth and cut expenses in conjunction with the release of disappointing third quarter results. Revenues were essentially flat with the prior year at $12 billion during the quarter ended Sept. 26 while earnings per share declined 13% to 48 cents from 53 cents.