Corporate Governance

Buoyed by strong sales and growing profitability, leading footwear retailer DSW Inc., preannounced second quarter sales and plans for a 2-for-1 stock split in advance of the release of second quarter results on August 27.

DSW’s sales for the second quarter ended August 3, increased 9% to $558 million from $512 million and same store sales increased 4.3% on top of a prior year gain of 4.2%. Those results prompted the operator of 377 stores to increase its full year profit forecast to a range of $3.60 to $3.80 per share from the previous range of $3.40 to $3.60 per share.

NAPERVILLE, Ill. — OfficeMax has reported weak second-quarter retail sales as the merger with Office Depot, which reported weak second-quarter sales last week, moves forward.

NEW YORK — Delia’s, a multichannel retailer that primarily markets to teenage girls, has hired Daphne Smith as the company’s EVP of operations, reporting to CEO Tracy Gardner.

Smith was previously with J.Crew for 16 years, working in various roles including SVP of direct. She has spent the past 18 months at New York & Company as the company’s SVP of e-commerce.

CAMDEN, N.J. — Campbell Soup Company has appointed Ed Carolan as president of U.S. retail and Tim Hassett as SVP and GM of Away from Home and as chief customer officer of Campbell North America. Both will report to Mark Alexander, president of Campbell North America.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS delivered strong second-quarter results and is moving forward with plans to leverage the upcoming changes under health reform.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target is getting ready to expand its rapidly evolving online beauty business with its planned acquisition of the DermStore Beauty Group. 

Increased advertising to support brand differentiation ate into second quarter profits at snack maker Snyder’s-Lance, but the company expects the investment to pay off during the second half of the year.

Snyder's-Lance, Inc. said sales increased 9.9% to $439 million from $399 million and profits, excluding non-recurring items, increased 12.6% to $16.9 million, or 24 cents a share, compared to $15 million, or 22 cents a share. Earnings per share were four cents below analysts’ consensus estimate.

Global luxury lifestyle brand Michael Kors Holdings Limited had an exceptional fiscal 2014 first quarter ended June 29 with a total revenue of $641 million, a 54.5% increase from $414.9 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2013.

Retail net sales increased 51.5% to $325.7 million driven by a 27.3% increase in comparable store sales and 75 net new store openings since the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2013. Wholesale net sales increased 59.3% to $290.6 million and licensing revenue increased 40.7% to $24.6 million.

Roundarch Isobar, the U.S. arm of the global digital marketing agency Isobar, has appointed Steven Moy as the company’s chief commerce officer. He joins from SapientNitro, where he was VP of business and office lead at that company’s Boston office.  

Roundarch Isobar will leverage Moy’s experience in retail to further develop the company’s digital commerce practice. He will report directly to Jeff Maling and Geoff Cubitt, co-CEOs of Roundarch Isobar.

Broomfield, Colo. -- TCBY Yogurt and Mrs. Fields Cookies parent Famous Brands International said it has appointed Michael Chao as CFO, effective immediately.  

Chao was previously VP finance, treasury and investor relations for Vail Resorts.

Famous Brands also announced the reappointment of David Barr to its board of directors. Barr, who is currently chairman of the board for Rita Restaurants and Australian jewelry company The Jewellery Group, was CFO and CEO of the Great American Cookie Co., which was sold to Mrs. Fields in 1998.