Corporate Governance

Clearwater, Fla. – Cost of sales did not grow in pace with revenue growth during the first quarter of fiscal 2015 at MarineMax Inc., resulting in a higher gross profit that helped produce net income of $214,000. This compares to net loss of $3.36 million the same period a year earlier.

Brentwood, Tenn. – Tractor Supply Company Inc. announced strong results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014, including a 17% year increase in net income. The retailer also said it will open 110 to 115 stores and build a new Southwest distribution center, in Casa Grande, Arizona, in fiscal 2015.

Tractor Supply’s net income rose to $112.1 million in the fourth, up from $95.9 million in the year ago period, fueled by the leveraging of store operating costs and reduced year-over-year incentive compensation expense.

Dublin, Calif. - Doug Baker, who served as president and chief merchandising officer of Ross Stores’ DD’s Discounts division since 2011, is leaving the company. A specific reason has not been given.

The senior merchandising executives at DD’s Discounts will report to Ross executive chairman Michael Balmuth while the company conducts a search to fill this position.

Matthews, N.C. – Howard Levine, CEO of Family Dollar Stores Inc., reportedly plans to sell between one and two million shares of company stock in the next 10 days. According to the Charlotte Business Journal, Levine filed his intention to make the sale with SEC.

Camp Hill, Pa. – Same-store sales rose 4.8% in January 2015 compared to the same month a year earlier at Rite Aid Corp. Front-end same store sales increased 2.9% while same store pharmacy sales, which included negative impact from new generic introductions, increased 5.7%.

Total drugstore sales increased 4.3% to $2.03 billion compared to $1.943billion for the same period the prior year. Prescription sales accounted for 70.3% of drugstore sales.
 

Dayton, Ohio – Personalization has become something of a “family value” for marketers. According to the Teradata 2015 Global Data-Driven Marketing Survey, 90 % of marketers say making marketing individualized is a priority.  

They want to move beyond segmentation to true one-to-one personalization in a real-time context. Faster, more accurate decisions are key benefits of using data for nearly two-thirds of respondents.

Other findings include:

San Francisco – Sabrina Simmons has been elected to the board of directors of Williams-Sonoma Inc. Simmons has served as executive VP, CFO of Gap Inc. since January 2008.

Boca Raton, Fla. - Office Depot Inc. is obtaining a little outside assistance with integration resulting from its merger with OfficeMax. Office Depot has selected Capgemini to drive critical technology migration and finance and accounting services resulting from the merger.

Neither a surge in online sales nor a rebounding U.S. economy has been enough to lift Ikea, as the global furnishings retailer reported flat profits for 2014.

Ikea, which operates 315 stores in 27 countries, said net profit for its fiscal year through August rose 0.4% from the previous year to $3.76 billion, far slower than the 3% growth the retailer logged last year, and its 8% growth in 2012.

Analysts say the results show that IKEA is sticking to its strategy of lowering prices and broadening its e-commerce offering.

Seven weeks into her new role as chief operating officer of Walmart’s U.S. stores division Judith McKenna shared insights into her priorities for the retailer’s domestic business with a gathering of more than 400 suppliers Friday morning.