Trading Partners

MINNEAPOLIS — Target has committed $15,000 in cash and gift cards to assist the Texas communities impacted by recent tornados. Cash donations will be distributed to The Salvation Army and the American Red Cross. In addition, Target has donated gift cards to other local nonprofit organizations for essentials such as water and food.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart is offering the women who work in the factories that supply its products the chance for a better life with lessons in such critical life skills as communication, hygiene, reproductive health, occuputational health and safety and gender sensitivity. The Women in Factories program, a five-year initiative will benefit 60,000 women working in factories in India, Bangladesh, China and Central America.

Pittsburgh -- Dick's Sporting Goods has agreed to make a 20 million pound investment ($31.75 million) in U.K. sports retailer JJB Sports plc, which operates over 180 stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Dick's will purchase 18.75 million pounds ($29.76 million) in junior secured convertible notes and 1.25 million pounds ($1.98 million) in ordinary shares of JJB Sports. The transaction is subject to approval of the British company's shareholders.

PITTSBURGH — Dick's Sporting Goods is looking into opportunities beyond the United States and has agreed to make a 20 million pounds Sterling strategic investment in JJB Sports plc, a leading U.K. sports retailer.

Amazon wasn’t always a threat to Walmart, but as the only retailer grows and offers more of the same products as traditional mass retailers, it has become hard to ignore. This article from Businessweek examines how Amazon has influenced Walmart’s approach to online.

Walmart has joined Adidas, H&M and Levi’s a member of the Better Cotton Initiative’s Fast Track program to encourage the production and purchase of sustainable cotton. For its part, Walmart will give $650,000 in grant money to help cotton farmers become more efficient and eco-friendly in their production. Read more.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Retired Kroger president and COO, Don McGeorge, has joined the board of directors of Acosta Sales & Marketing, a leading full-service sales and marketing agency in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry.

During his time at Kroger, McGeorge was responsible for all of the company’s supermarket divisions, advertising, customer relationship marketing, manufacturing, merchandising and procurement, pharmacy and retail operations until his retirement in 2009. 

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — TJX's board of directors has raised the company's quarterly dividend by 21% from the last dividend paid. The board declared a regular quarterly dividend in the amount of 11.5 cents per share, payable May 31 to shareholders of record on May 10.