Corporate Governance

By Jason Fredrickson, Guidance Software

The recent cyber attacks on Target, Neiman Marcus and Michaels Stores had an immediate and profound impact on sales, as well as a widespread and ongoing ripple effect on consumer confidence in the safety of credit-card information at point-of-sale (POS) terminals.

Lifetime Brands, a leading global provider of branded kitchenware, tableware and other products used in the home, is seeing the results of its aggressive growth strategy — which included the acquisition of four businesses during the period — in the first quarter ended March 31.

Consolidated net sales for the quarter were $118.4 million, soaring 20% from $98.7 million for the corresponding period in 2013.

Phoenix — Vestar has appointed Clint Marchuk VP of acquisitions. His responsibilities include identifying, evaluating and carrying out shopping center acquisitions in Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas.

nGage Labs, a leading provider of personalized mobile engagement solutions, has named Kyle Hollaway as chief technology officer.

As CTO, Hollaway will lead the nGage Labs Analytics Innovation team in developing real-time personalization analytics that differentiates the company's mobile customer engagement solutions. He leads an entire team of architects, analysts, modelers, and developers in continuing to create deeper levels of individual customer insights and actionable intelligence.

An expected shift in Easter-related product shipments affected Kraft Foods Group in the first quarter of 2014.

"We continued to make steady progress during the first quarter of this year," said CEO Tony Vernon, who remained positive. "We still have more work to do, but we're confident that our focus on brand renovation, marketing excellence and total cost management will drive the profitable growth that both we and our shareholders expect."

Pittsburgh - GNC Holdings Inc. is launching a month-long fundraising and awareness campaign for Run With Us at more than 5,000 GNC stores and online at GNC.com. Run With Us is a curriculum-based health-=and-wellness program that brings elite track & field athletes and aspiring Olympians into the classroom to demonstrate how exercise and nutrition go hand-in-hand with goal setting and self-esteem.

There is no substitute for a strong brand — whatever the sales channel. That’s the basic underlying premise of Interbrand’s annual “Best Retail Brands” report, which ranks the top 50 North American and international retailers by brand value. It’s a premise worth keeping in mind amid all the online versus offline talk. As Interbrand global CEO Jez Frampton puts it: “In the end, it is the brand, not the footprint, that will endure.”

The timing of the Easter holiday this year adversely affected first-quarter sales at Publix by 1.3% — Easter fell in the second quarter this year, rather than the first quarter as if did last year — but the company still posted a 4.1% increase to $7.8 billion from last year’s $7.5 billion.

Comparable-store sales for the quarter increased 4%.