Corporate Governance

New York -- Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. filed a notice of appeal in a lawsuit by Macy's Inc. in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, Bloomberg reported.

Macy’s sued Martha Stewart Living in January to stop the company from executing a sales agreement that it announced in December with J.C. Penney Company.  Macy’s said it had the exclusive right to sell Martha Stewart-branded products in certain categories.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Sears Holdings said Friday it has again been selected to participate in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star National Building Competition: Battle of the Buildings.

For the third consecutive year, Sears will participate in the competition, this year entering 56 facilities that will compete against thousands of other teams representing buildings across the country. All efforts will be focused on eliminating waste through improvements in energy efficiency with help from EPA's Energy Star program.

Columbus, Ohio -- Express said Friday that one of its subsidiaries has entered into a franchise agreement with Fastco Commercial S.A., a retail franchise operator, to open more than 30 Express stores over a five-year period in Panama, Peru, Costa Rica, Colombia, The Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Milwaukee -- Midwestern grocer Roundy’s reported Friday that net income for the quarter ended June 30 rose 6.6% to $18.9 million, compared with $17.7 million in the year-ago period. Sales edged up 1.7% to $996.8 million.

Same-store sales dropped 3.3%.
 

Plano, Texas -- J.C. Penney Co. reported Friday a bigger-than-expected second-quarter loss of $147 million, compared with net income of $14 million in the same period last year.

Sales plummeted 22% to $3.02 billion from $3.9 billion, and same-store sales tumbled 21.7% after an 18.9% fall in the first quarter. Wall Street had forecast revenue of $3.2 billion.

Facing the investment community on Friday, CEO Ron Johnson admitted to some strategic pricing mistakes, but said he and his team will stay the course.

By Craig LaRosa, [email protected]

A consumer walks into a store, tries on a pair of running shoes, and then hops online to buy them from someone else—10% to 15% cheaper. It’s called “showrooming” and it has a lot of businesses scrambling.

Bharti Walmart, Walmart's joint venture in India, has reportedly ended plans to start online operations and has fired Dippankar Halder, who was in charge of the division.

However, a spokeswoman for the company, according to The Economic Times, denied the reports and said that Bharti Walmart will continue to serve its members multiple ways, including through the e-commerce channel.

ATLANTA — Aaron's, a lease-to-own retailer specializing in the sales and lease ownership of residential furniture, consumer electronics, home appliances and accessories, announced that Hubert Harris, Jr., has been elected to its board of directors. Harris is the former CEO of Invesco North America.

AUSTIN, Texas — Newgistics, a provider of small parcel delivery, returns management and freight shipping services, has acquired AtLast Fulfillment, a Colorado-based provider of fulfillment and warehousing solutions.

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. — TAGSYS RFID, a provider of item-level inventory management systems that streamline the supply chain, has expanded its U.S.-based organization in response to accelerating demand for smart inventory and loss management systems within the retail and luxury sectors.

Tony Dublino has been named director of U.S. Sales for retail and apparel and Chad Tripp is the new director of field applications engineering for TAGSYS in the United States.