Financial/Banking

Chicago -- JLL has bolstered its tenant representation practice with the addition of Jason Press as VP in the firm’s Chicago office, working on the team lead by executive VP Lew Kornberg.

Press joins JLL with more than 15 years of real estate experience facilitating hundreds of transactions valued in excess of $500 million. Prior to JLL, he co-founded North Park Properties to acquire investment properties in the Chicagoland area.

Walmart’s senior director for payment strategy Reed Luhtanen is among a group of notable speakers scheduled to gather in Washington, D.C. September 10 to explore vulnerabilities and challenges faced by merchants and payment industry professionals.

Hamilton, Bermuda – Sixty-five days of performance from its new Zale division cut net income at Signet Jewelers Ltd. but boosted sales at Signet Jewelers Ltd. in the second quarter of fiscal 2015. Expenses related to the Zale acquisition helped reduced net income 13% to $58 million, from $67.4 million a year earlier.

BitPay, a payment service provider (PSP) specializing in e-commerce, B2B and enterprise solutions for the bitcoin digital currency, has become a Demandware LINK Technology Partner.

BitPay will be joining a community committed to accelerating the adoption of innovative commerce technologies that are complementary to the Demandware Commerce platform. Demandware’s clients will now be able to easily add bitcoin as a form of payment via BitPay’s development of a pre-built integration between its payment processing services and the Demandware Commerce platform.

Fort Myers, Fla. – Chico’s FAS Inc. reported net income of $30.1 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2014, down 31% from $43.6 million in the year-ago period. Price cuts needed to clear seasonal merchandise were a primary driver of Chico’s lower net income. Its results missed Wall Street expectations.

Net sales for the quarter ended August 2, 2014, were $671.1 million, up 3.3% from $649.5 million in the previous year, primarily reflecting the addition of 98 net new stores.  

Total same-store sales rose 0.3%.

Roughly two months removed from an initial public stock offering, Michaels CEO Chuck Rubin said the company is on track to implement a multi-year strategic plan following the release of second quarter results that showed broad based sales strength and healthy margins.

Austin, Texas - Approximately two in three credit cardholders typically use cash for purchases of less than five dollars. According to a new CreditCards.com report, a clear generational divide in the way Americans pay for small purchases means that might not be the case for much longer.

Sebring, Fla. -- BV Belk Properties has retained JLL Retail to manage and lease Lakeshore Mall, a 490,000-sq.-ft. retail center located in Sebring, Florida. The mall was built in 1992, and is the only enclosed regional mall within 40 miles of Sebring.
 
“I see nothing but a good future for Lakeshore Mall, and I am thrilled at the opportunity to take a steady center and make it extraordinary for locals and passer-byes with the support of JLL,” said B.V. Belk Jr., owner of BV Belk Properties.