Labor & Employment

Bentonville, Ark. – Consolidated net income at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. grew 0.6% to $4.1 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2014 from $4.07 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2013, with factors including incremental e-commerce investments and healthcare costs dampening profit growth. Wal-Mart cut its profit forecast for the full year as a result.

Overall second quarter performance at Wal-Mart was sluggish. Net sales rose 3% to $119.3 billion from $116.1 billion. Currency exchange rate fluctuations negatively impacted net sales performance.

Goodlettsville, Tenn. - Paula A. Price, senior lecturer at Harvard Business School and former CFO of Ahold USA, has been named to the Dollar General board of directors effective Aug. 26. The election of Price to Dollar General’s board will bring the total number of directors to eight.

Brampton, Canada – Loblaw Companies Ltd. has named Pavi Binning as a director to its board. Binning currently serves as the president of food processing company George Weston Ltd. and has been a director of George Weston Ltd. since 2012.

New York – Ann Inc., the parent company of Ann Taylor and Loft, has been named a recipient of the 2014 Gallup Great Workplace Award. This award recognizes organizations around the world for having the most highly engaged work environments.

Loblaw has appointed Pavi Binning, George Weston Limited president, as a director on the company’s board.

Binning has been a director of George Weston Limited since 2012. He joined the company in 2010 as CFO after spending a year as a director of Loblaw Companies Limited. Prior to joining Weston, Binning was at Nortel Networks Corporation, where he held the role of CFO and subsequently chief restructuring officer. Prior to that, Binning held CFO positions at both Hanson plc and Marconi Corporation plc, as well as executive positions at Diageo plc.

BitPay, a payment service provider (PSP) specializing in e-commerce, B2B and enterprise solutions for the bitcoin digital currency, has expanded its San Francisco office with several new hires.

The company has named Sonny Singh as its chief commercial officer to oversee all sales operations. With more than 15 years of experience in helping to grow tech companies, Singh will be responsible for increasing BitPay’s customer base of more than 40,000 merchants.
 

Amazon plans to open a fifth California fulfillment center in Redlands. Since opening its first fulfillment center in the state less than two years ago, Amazon has expanded its presence to nearly 5 million sq. ft. Amazon’s other California fulfillment centers are located in San Bernardino, Moreno Valley, Patterson and Tracy.

Advance Auto Parts demonstrated strength in its second quarter performance in one of the retail industry’s hottest sectors.

Following Walgreens' announcement last week about taking the next step in acquiring Alliance Boots, Alex Gourlay, EVP Walgreens Boots Alliance and president of Walgreens, announced changes in the company's operational organization structure in a letter to Walgreens employees.
 

In the alternative universe where Amazon resides, surging expenses that eat into the company’s profitability are viewed favorably. If Walmart were afforded the same treatment its stock would have surged after it was revealed increased labor, health care and e-commerce costs eroded second quarter profits.