Corporate Governance

Burlington, Ontario -- Ikea Canada announced it has purchased a 46 megawatt wind farm in Pincher Creek, Alberta. The 20-turbine wind farm will be the largest owned by a Canadian retailer and is expected to generate 161 gigawatt hours (GWh) each year, which is more than double the total energy consumption of Ikea Canada. The project is currently being constructed by global wind and solar company Mainstream Renewable Power and is expected to be fully operational in fall 2014.

Menomonee Falls, Wis. – Kohl’s Corp. missed Wall Street forecasts with a generally poor showing in the third quarter of fiscal 2013 that saw the retailer’s net income fell 18% to $177 million from $215 million a year ago. The chain lowered its full-year earnings forecast.

In addition, net sales dropped 1% to $4.44 billion, from $4.49 billion. Same-store sales fell 1.6%.

A tepid economic climate and government shutdown weren’t enough to prevent Macy’s from producing a 3.5% third quarter same store sale increase and better than expected profits which prompted the department store operator to reiterate it full year financial forecast.

New York -- Office Depot Inc. — the new entity created by the merger of Office Depot and OfficeMax — named Roland Smith as CEO, effective immediately. Smith, 59, most recently served as CEO of Delhaize American, a division of Belgian grocery giant Delhaize Group. Prior to that, he was president and CEO of The Wendy's Co., holding company for the Wendy's chain.

Pinnacle Foods reported a 1% increase in consolidated net sales for the third quarter ended Sept. 29 compared to the year-ago quarter, bolstered by the company’s North America retail business, which is made up of the Birds Eye Frozen and Duncan Hines Grocery segments and which increased 2%.

Colorado Springs, Colo. -- Accellos, a provider of supply chain execution software solutions, announced its acquisition of PROFITsystems, a provider of  software as a service (SaaS) solutions for small and medium sized home goods retailers.

Facing an increasingly competitive retail landscape, Canadian retailer Loblaw Cos. posted a slight lift in retail sales but, due to incremental margin investment in the back half of the year, lowered its earnings growth expectations for 2013.

However, company executives are optimistic as the company remains focused on investing in what it refers to as the “customer proposition” and looks forward to its acquisition of Shoppers Drug Mart.

Dallas -- Corner Bakery Cafe announced the company has signed two new multi-unit franchise agreements to open new restaurants in Arizona and introduce its first restaurants in Wisconsin beginning in 2014.

The fast-casual brand's new franchise partners include Blue Mountain Cafes, which plans to open 13 restaurants in Phoenix over the next seven years and Neo Fourno Inc., which plans to open ten new restaurants in Madison and Milwaukee over the next five years