International Business

Deerfield, Ill. - Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. has named Marco Pagni, formerly group legal counsel and chief administrative officer of Alliance Boots, as executive VP and global chief legal and administrative officer. In this role, Pagni will oversee all global legal affairs for Walgreens Boots Alliance and its divisions, including strategy and mergers and acquisitions, working with acting CEO Stefano Pessina.

Los Angeles - The Court of Paris has rejected every claim asserted by Gucci in a six-year trademark suit filed against Guess Inc., finding no trademark infringement, no counterfeiting, and no unfair competition. The court also completely denied Gucci’s request for $62.4 million in damages and, instead, Gucci was ordered by the court to pay Guess $34,000.

The court also invalidated three of Gucci’s “G” community and international trademarks, meaning Gucci cannot claim exclusive use to those marks any longer.

The TJX Companies announced that William H. Swanson has been elected to its board of directors.

Dodgeville, Wis. - Lands’ End Inc. has named fashion executive Federica Marchionni as CEO. Marchionni comes to Lands’ End from her role as president of Dolce&Gabbana USA Inc. She will succeed Edgar Huber, who is resigning from the company.

Marchionni has served as president at Lands’ End since 2011, overseeing the opening of several key stores, including the Fifth Avenue flagship store in New York City as well as stores in other markets including Toronto, Chicago, Aspen and Boston.  

Stanley Black & Decker and Newell Rubbermaid reported modest but steady growth in the fourth quarter, results that position both companies on solid ground going forward.

At Stanley Black and Decker, net sales for the fourth quarter came in at $2.98 billion, up from $2.88 billion in the fourth quarter of 2013. This was mainly due to increases in volume and price, but partially offset by currency. In terms of net income, the company pulled in $145.8 million, up considerably from last year's $56.1 million.

New York -- Swedish fast-fashion giant Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M) is in full expansion mode. Along with reporting a 17% increase in fiscal 2014 profits, the company said it plans to open 400 stores in 2015, with most of the openings in the United States and China. It will also enter several new markets, including India and South Africa.  

In other news, H&M is launching a new beauty concept, H&M Beauty, with an initial debut in about 900 stores and online, starting in fall 2015.

Issaquah, Wash. -- Costco Wholesale Corp. has declared a special one-time dividend of $5 per share that will result in approximately $2.2 billion being returned to shareholders.  

In its mostly recently reported quarter, Costco posted a 17% increase in profits, driven by lower gasoline prices and strong growth in store sales and membership fees.

New York -- Amazon reported higher-than-expected profit for its fourth quarter, fueled by growth of its Prime memberships and holiday shoppers, even as its sales came in below forecasts. It’s a reverse for the e-commerce giant, which has typically sacrificed profits for rapidly-growing sales.

For the fourth quarter, net income totaled $214 million, down from $239 million in the year-ago period, but better than analysts had expected. Sales rose 15% to $29.3 billion, lower than the expected $29.7 billion.