Corporate Governance

LAS VEGAS — The International Council of Shopping Centers has elected David J. LaRue, president and CEO of Forest City Enterprises, to serve as the association’s chairman for the 2013–2014 term. LaRue assumed his role as chairman at RECon, ICSC’s annual meeting in Las Vegas. 

LaRue is the association’s 54th chairman, succeeding Brad Hutensky, president and principal of Hutensky Capital Partners.

San Francisco – Target opened a new Technology Innovation Center in San Francisco, on May 20. The center, located in shared space with the digital marketing agency SapientNitro, employs about 20 people, including some shared SapientNitro employees. Target will use the center to develop mobile and e-commerce services, allowing it to better compete with online-savvy rivals such as Amazon.com.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — AutoZone reported net sales of $2.2 billion for the 12-week third quarter period ended May 4, an increase of 4.5% from $2.1 billion for the same period last year. Domestic same-store sales decreased 0.1% for the quarter.

San Diego – Tommy Bahama is employing the IT Service Automation Application Suite from cloud-based IT services provider ServiceNow to automate IT functions such as incident management, change management, problem management, configuration management database and service catalog. The specialty apparel brand is also using the SaaS-based Orchestrate solution from ServiceNow to streamline the hiring and training process.

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — The TJX Companies reported increased net sales during first quarter fiscal 2014. Revenue rose almost 7% from the same quarter a year earlier to about $6.2 billion, while same store sales grew 2% on top of an 8% increase from last year. Net earnings totaled $453 million.

CEO Carol Meyrowitz said that a flexible business model allowed TJX to have a profitable quarter despite adverse weather conditions. “Flowing the right merchandise at the right time continued to be key to strong merchandise margins,” she said.

New York – Saks Incorporated reported a roughly 5% increase in total sales between first quarter 2012 and first quarter 2013, although net income dropped during that same time period. Total sales for the first quarter of this year were $793.2 million, up from $753.6 million in the first quarter of last year. However, net income of $20 million for first quarter 2013 was down close to 40% from $32.7 million for first quarter 2012. Same store sales increased 5.9%.

SHANGHAI — Hershey is heading to China to launch a candy brand called Lancaster, marking the first time in its 120-year history that the company has launched a new brand outside of the United States. It’s also the first time in 30 years that Hershey launches a brand that is neither a brand extension nor an acquisition.

The brand will be available in the cities of Wuhan, Hangzhou and Chengdu in June, with wider distribution following next year. 

The Home Depot shrugged off bad weather, and thanks, in part, to a recovering housing market, the company reported first quarter sales of $19.1 billion, up 7.4% from last year's quarter, which had one less week. 

On a like-for-like basis, comparable store sales for the first quarter were positive 4.3%. U.S. stores comps were positive 4.8%, also on a like-for-like basis.