International Business

HONG KONG — Esprit Holdings Limited has appointed Jose Manuel Martínez Gutiérrez as its new Group CEO and executive director, effective on or before the end of September.

By Merrick Theobald, [email protected]

DOWNERS GROVE, Ill. — Hub Group, a light freight transportation management company has been named a 2012 Partner in Transformation for Sears Holdings. Hub Group received the award for financial and operational discipline.

NAPLES, Fla. — ACI Worldwide, an international provider of payment systems, has named Daniel Frate as EVP global markets and product management.

Frate most recently served as EVP and head of products and pricing at PNC Bank. Building on ACI's product leadership position, Frate will be charged with delivering customer satisfaction through tight alignment of product roadmaps with market needs. He will be based out of the company's Naples, Florida headquarters.

Boca Raton, Fla. -- Office Depot reported Tuesday that it lost $64.3 million in the second quarter, widened from a $29.3 million loss in the same period last year.

Weakened sales in North America and Europe, along with a $23.9 million impairment charge and other restructuring charges, contributed to the weakened performance.

Revenue dropped 7% to $2.51 billion, compared with $2.71 in the year-ago period and missing analysts’ expected $2.6 billion in revenue. Sales in North America fell 8%, and same-store sales dropped 4%.

London -- New shopping center development in Europe is expected to increase by a quarter in 2012 to meet retailer demand for modern, high quality retail space, according to the latest research by global property adviser CBRE.

Turkey is the most active market, accounting for one-third of new space delivered in the first half of the year. This is some way ahead of Germany, with Italy and Poland just behind.

NEW YORK — Damco announced it has been named a 2012 Partner in Transformation for Sears Holdings Corp. in recognition of its innovative contributions to Sears. Damco is a leading third-party logistics provider specializing in customised freight forwarding and supply chain solutions.

Sears grants the Partners in Transformation award to a select group of supplier companies who have been helping support the transformation of the company through innovation around customers, core retail excellence and financial and operational discipline.

New York -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will adjust its future financial reports to add more detail on legal proceedings and cyber security after U.S. regulators asked the retailer to better explain certain matters in its latest quarterly and annual filings, Reuters reported.
   
Wal-Mart's correspondence with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission took place in June and July and was made public on Monday.