Corporate Governance

BELLEVUE, Wash. — Eddie Bauer first ascent guide Melissa Arnot summited Mt. Everest for the fifth time, the most of any woman in history. Arnot's celebratory summit falls only weeks after the 50th anniversary of the 1963 expedition outfitted by Eddie Bauer that marked the first American summit of the mountain by Jim Whittaker and his Sherpa partner, Nawang Gombu, and later by Tom Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld via the West Ridge.

MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis. — Kohl’s has made a $250,000 cash donation to the American Red Cross, toward tornado relief efforts in Moore, Okla., and the surrounding area. The American Red Cross is delivering emergency supplies and services to the tornado-impacted areas.

CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Dollar Tree achieved the highest first-quarter operating margin in its history in the first quarter ended May 4.

Consolidated net sales for the first quarter ended May 4 were $1.9 billion, an 8% increase from $1.7 billion for the quarter ended April 28 last year. The value retailer saw a comparable store sales increase of 2% on top of a 6% increase for the first quarter last year.

YORK, Pa. — Inclement weather was not enough to hold back Bon-Ton’s first quarter results for the period ended May 4. 

The company saw same-store sales increase 1.2% compared with the first quarter of the year prior. Total sales for the quarter were $647 million, a 1% increase from $641 million for the first quarter last year.

Ace Hardware reported first-quarter revenues of $923.2 million, up 1.7% from the same quarter in 2012. Net income of $4.4 million was down from $10.2 million earned in 2012.

IRVING, Texas — Michaels reported net sales of $993 million for the first quarter ended May 4, an increase of 1.5% from $978 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2012. 

Although same-store sales decreased 0.7% due to a 3% decrease in transactions, it was offset by a positive 1.7% impact from a higher average ticket and a positive 0.6% impact in deferred custom framing revenue. Michaels experienced its strongest sales increases for the quarter in custom framing and yarn.

NAPERVILLE, Ill. — OfficeMax Workplace, the U.S. business-to-business division of OfficeMax, has expanded its IT Lifecycle Management Services to help customers streamline their technology work environments. 

The company has added HP Networking solutions to its portfolio, which also includes technology offerings from Motorola and Cisco. The move provides organizations with more options to modernize their wireless and wired networks, increase productivity, unify digital communications and grow their networking capacity. 

LOS ANGELES — Virtual Piggy, an online service that allows parents to monitor their children's online shopping behavior, has upgraded its security service to ease compliance with Federal Trade Commission regulations.

The security service offers parental verification as well as transactional capability, which allows merchants to comply with the updated amendments to Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.

CAMDEN, N.J. — Campbell Soup Company has entered into an agreement to acquire Plum Organics, a provider of premium, organic foods and snacks that serve the nutritional needs of babies, toddlers and children. 

The company is based in Emeryville, Calif. Plum is the No. 2 brand of organic baby food in the U.S. and is currently the No. 4 baby food brand overall. Baby food is an approximately $2 billion category in the United States. From 2010 to 2012, the premium and organic segments grew at an average annual rate of 43%.

SAN ANTONIO — This Memorial Day weekend, Walmart and Sam's Club will launch the company's initiative to hire 100,000 veterans throughout the next five years.  

The event will take place Saturday, May 25, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Walmart supercenter located at 8923 W. Military Rd. Lunch and giveaways will be provided by Walmart and Sam's Club suppliers, including Johnsonville's World's Largest Grill. The event is part of the continuing Saluting Heroes Together campaign, which Walmart launched May 18 with Operation Homefront.