Corporate Governance

San Diego – PriceSmart Inc. reported mixed results for the first quarter of fiscal 2015, missing Wall Street expectations for net income but exceeding revenue forecasts. Net income totaled $20.65 million, down 4% from $21.43 million.

Higher income taxes and expenses drove the decline in profit. Total revenues fared better, growing 8% to $656 million, from $605.6 million. Same-store sales rose 1.5%.
 

Houston – Francesca’s Holding Corp. is still feeling the warmth of the holidays. The retailer is increasing its guidance for fourth quarter sales to between $103 million and $105 million, including a low-single-digit decrease in same-store sales.

King of Prussia, Pa. – EBay Enterprise is expanding its network of partnerships with a global program that will allow retail consultants and other partners to advise, design and integrate omnichannel commerce solutions and services from providers including Magento, Isobar, EPAM, Infosys, Bridge Consulting Group, AOE, Vaimo, and Gorilla.

Solutions and services offered include retail order management, store and warehouse fulfillment, and customer care. Global markets where services are offered include Europe, China and Latin America.
 

Boston -- Gordon Brothers Group and Hilco Merchant Resources will begin going-out-of-business sales at all 287 Deb Shops retail locations nationwide beginning Jan. 9. Deb Shops, a Philadelphia-based women’s fashion discount retailer, filed for Chapter 11 protection on Dec. 4, 2014.  

Austin, Texas - Following its recent acquisitions of retail vendors QuantiSense and ShopVisible, Epicor Software Corp. is releasing several new retail solutions. They include QuantiSense Retail Analytics, which provides a complete analytics package that delivers actionable insights to every area of the business and all key decision makers.

Surging sales at Old Navy helped parent company Gap Inc. post an increase in same store sales for November and December.

Gap’s same store sales for the November and December holiday shopping season increased 3%.

For December alone, the figure rose 1%, slightly above Wall Street estimates for a 0.7% increase, according to Thomson Reuters.

E-commerce and Disney’s Frozen helped propel Books-A-Million’s holiday sales over Barnes & Noble’s.

Books-A-Million, the country’s second largest bookstore chain, reported that total sales for the nine-week period ended Jan. 3 were $129.2 million, an increase of 1.1% over the same period a year ago. Same store sales rose 1.2%, but excluding sales of e-reader devices comp sales were up 1.7% in the nine week period compared to the holiday season last year.

Teens will soon have fewer choices when it comes to shopping for the latest fashions.

Deb Shops announced it has won court approval to launch going-out-of-business sales that will culminate with the closing of nearly 300 stores.

“We thank our many customers and dedicated employees for their tremendous loyalty over the years and are very proud of our associates’ commitment to maintaining the high level of customer service we are known for throughout this transition,” said Dawn Robertson, CEO at Deb Shops.

As uncertainty continues to swirl around Bitcoin and its role in the future of payments, Overstock.com is rushing full-speed ahead in embracing the digital currency.

The online retailer has installed a Bitcoin ATM at its corporate headquarters in Salt Lake City. The ATM is accessible 24 hours a day and allows the public to convert U.S. dollars to Bitcoin, and Bitcoin to U.S. dollars.

Boot Barn’s efforts to expand its footprint may be paying off, as the western wear retailer reported net sales of approximately $130.5 million, compared to net sales of $115.4 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2014.