Trading Partners

Engaged Capital, an investment firm specializing in small and mid-cap North American equities and stockholder of Abercrombie & Fitch Co., has named five nominees for the Abercrombie & Fitch board of directors.

The nominees are Alexander P. Brick, former CEO of Specialty Retail Group; Robert D. Huth, former CEO of David’s Bridal; Michael W. Kramer, former COO of J.C. Penney; Diane L. Neal, former CEO of Bath & Body Works; and Glenn W. Welling, CIO and managing member of Engaged Capital.

Safeway has confirmed that it is in discussions concerning a possible transaction involving the sale of the company. However, the company declined to comment further at this time.

"Although the discussions are ongoing, the company has not reached an agreement on a transaction, and there can be no assurance that these discussions will lead to an agreement or a completed transaction," Safeway stated as part of its earnings release.

New York - Eminence Capital, LLC, which owns 4.9% of the common stock of Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, has sent a letter to the board of directors criticizing their announced acquisition of Eddie Bauer. According to the letter, signed by Eminence CEO Ricky Sandler, the nearly $900 million acquisition is a poor decision that has an excessive price which almost surely destroys shareholder value.

Ace Hardware’s unique value proposition allowed it to withstand strong competition from Home Depot and Lowe’s in 2013 and grow annual sales by a 8.2% to a record $4.2 billion.

“We outperformed our operating plan, exceeding $4 billion in consolidated revenues and $100 million in net income for the first time in our history,” said president and CEO John Venhuizen.

Net income was $104.5 million for fiscal 2013, an increase of $22.7 million, or 27.8%, compared with $81.8 million in fiscal 2012.

The Hertz Corp. and Costco in the U.K. have teamed up to bring short-term Hertz 24/7 van rental to Costco's members.

The self-drive service operates at all 25 Costco warehouses in the U.K. Costco's members can hire a van from the warehouse car parks to drive their purchased items home immediately.

BJ’s Wholesale Club is outsourcing and expanding its product demonstration program with the help of Crossmark’s PromoWorks division.

Plans call for PromoWorks to manage, enhance and ultimately expand the company’s demo and events program. BJ’s current demo and events staff, made up of approximately 1,400 employees, will be given priority to apply for the demo program with PromoWorks, which plans to grow the current program by more than 25% or about 500 jobs, the companies said it a joint statement.

Dublin, Ohio -- The Wendy’s Company announced the sale of 70 restaurants in the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex to Texas-based MUY Hamburger Partners, a Wendy's  franchisee. The transaction is designed to promote new restaurant growth and reimaging, while generating a more predictable revenue stream for the company.

Kimberly-Clark North America has named Grant LaMontagne as president of customer development. In his new role, LaMontagne will lead all sales and customer development activities for the company’s operations in North America and will report to KCNA group president Michael Hsu.

LaMontagne joins KCNA from Clorox, where he was most recently SVP and GM for Clorox Professional Products business, which includes the health care, janitorial/sanitary and institutional foods channels.