Financial/Banking

Greenwich, Conn. – Merger and acquisition (M&A) dealflow in the retail mobile payment sector has risen 500% between 2009 and 2013, while investment dealflow has grown 300%. According to data from Mooreland Partners, a mid-market investment bank specializing in technology deals, there were 232 M&A deals in this sector from 2009-213, and 259 from 1999-2013.

Dallas – Zale Corp. reported net earnings of $9 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2014, an impressive 80% jump from $5 million a year earlier. This soaring growth came even as revenues slipped 3% to $431 million, from $443 million.

A lower cost of sales and higher pretax earnings and operating earnings helped boost Zale’s net earnings. Zale cited the net decrease of 78 stores compared to the prior year and a decline in the Canadian exchange rate, partially offset by same-store sales growth of 1.9%, as driving down revenues.

Framingham, Mass. – Staples Inc. attributed a 44% drop in net earnings during the first quarter of fiscal 2014 to lower sales caused by store closures and a rise in the value of the dollar. Net earnings of $96 million were 44% below net earnings of $170 million reported a year earlier.

Toronto - Sears Canada Inc. has entered into an agreement for the sale of its 15% minority ownership interest in the Centre commercial Les Rivières shopping centre in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, for $33.5 million. Ivanhoé Cambridge, who holds the center in a joint arrangement with Sears Canada, is purchasing the 15% interest that it does not already own from Sears.

Hamilton, Bermuda - Signet Jewelers Ltd. has closed the offering of $400 million senior unsecured notes due 2024 by Signet U.K. Finance PLC (a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Signet). The notes will bear interest at a rate of 4.7% per year and mature on June 15, 2024.

Deerfield, Ill. – The Walgreens Co. is reportedly considering making a purchase offer for U.K.-based drugstore chain Alliance Boots. Walgreens, which owns 45% of the company, has an option to purchase the remaining 55% between February and August 2015, but according to The Telegraph may try to make an offer even sooner.

Dallas – A previously undisclosed conflict of interest may endanger the proposed $1.4 billion purchase of jewelry retailer Zale Corp. by rival Signet Jewelers. According to the New York Times, Bank of America, which represented Zale in talks with Signet, failed to disclose it had made an unsolicited presentation to Signet in October 2013 where it advised Signet to consider purchasing Zale.

Former Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke is scheduled to deliver a keynote address at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) Total Store Expo later this year.

The trade group said Bernanke would participate in the business program at its Total Store Expo on August 24 in Boston. Bernanke served as chairman of the Federal Reserve from 2006 through 2014 and oversaw the central bank during one of the nation’s most tumultuous financial periods.