International Business

Omaha, Neb. -- Gordmans Stores announced that its president and CEO, Jeff Gordman, has given his resignation to the board. The retailer said that Gorman is retiring to spend more time with his family and pursue outside interests.

T. Scott King, the current chairman of Gordmans’ board, will serve as interim CEO while a search is conducted for a permanent successor to Gordman. King will take an unpaid leave of absence from his position as senior managing director at Sun Capital Partners while he serves in the interim position.

Coty has appointed Mario Reis as EVP, supply chain, effective May 1. Based in Geneva, Reis will join the executive committee and report to CEO Michele Scannavini.  

Reis will replace Darryl McCall who will work on the transition and other projects to ensure continuity in supply chain performance before his retirement Dec. 31.

Monterrey, Mexico -- Tiendas Soriana S.A. de C.V., Mexico’s second largest retail company, and Hanwha Q CELLS, a leading full-service solar power companies, announced a 20-year power purchase agreement for 31 megawatts (MW) of photovoltaic (PV) solar power at 120 retail locations across Mexico that will create significant long-term energy savings for Soriana. Soriana operates more than 640 grocery and department stores.

Arcadia, Wis. – When vertical furniture retailer Ashley Furniture found its homegrown retail management system no longer supported its rapid global growth, the company decided to investigate both regional and Tier 1 enterprise retail management systems. Determining it needed a multi-language, multi-currency solution that could support the unique financial requirements of each country where it did business, Ashley Furniture selected Microsoft Dynamics.

New York -- Nordstrom Inc. is delaying the opening of its Nordstrom Rack chain in Canada until 2017, in order to focus its attention on the launch of its full-line department stores there, The Globe and Mail reported.

Nordstrom had initially planned to start opening Rack stores in Canada next year. But the company has decided to focus on  the openings of its six Canadian department stores (the first, in Calgary, is due to open this fall).

Bexley, Ohio — Stanbery Development has named Marc Hays as a partner. He will focus on finding locations for new developments and acquisitions as well as leasing.

London – British fashion retailer Arcadia Group, whose banners include Topshop and Topman, has chosen Oracle Retail Merchandising Operations Management, Oracle Retail Merchandise Planning and Optimization, and Oracle Commerce applications to create a platform to help optimize retail operations and support its developing international business.

New York – A $473 million charge resulting from arbitration with The Swatch Group in December 2013 resulted in Tiffany & Co. reporting a net loss of $104 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013. Tiffany reported net earnings of $180 million in the year-ago period.

Leading packaging provider Silgan Holdings named long-time KPMG executive Joseph Jordan to its board of directors.

Silgan isn’t a name familiar to the average consumer, even though its products come in contact with millions of people daily. As a leading supplier of rigid packaging for shelf stable foods and other consumer goods, Silgan operates 87 manufacturing plants worldwide and generates annual sales of $3.7 billion.

Borderfree is a digital company focused on helping retailers sell to anyone anywhere and last Friday the company sold itself to investor’s by completing an initial public stock offering.

The company priced its offering of five million shares at $16 and enjoyed a 32% pop at the open when shares began trading at $21. The upward momentum proved to be unsustainable and by the close shares had receded to $20, registering a still respectable first day gain of 25%.