Retail

Abercrombie & Fitch’s fourth quarter was affected by the company’s closure of 24 Gilly Hicks stores in the fourth quarter, as well as other asset impairment charges and charges related to its profit improvement initiative.

Although the company’s net income decreased significantly in the quarter — 58% — it did not fall as much as Wall Street expected.

The company’s board also approved a $150 million accelerated share repurchase plan, to be executed during the first quarter.

Management consulting firm Kurt Salmon has named Tom Cole as a partner in its Retail and Consumer Products Group.

Dollar Tree’s fourth quarter results were affected by the extra week in last year’s fourth quarter as well as continued economic challenges.

On a year-over-year basis, net income during the fourth quarter declined about 7% to $213 million from $228.6 million, and during the full year fell about 4% to $596.7 million from $619.3 million.

AB Acquisition LLC, which operates Albertson’s LLC and New Albertson’s Inc., has appointed Rick Navarro, who had been the company’s CFO since its inception in 2006, as chief administrative officer. Succeeding Navarro as the company’s CFO is former Nash Finch executive Robert Dimond.

In his new role, Navarro will oversee the IT, legal, business development, human resources and public affairs functions.

Bi-Lo Holdings and Delhaize Group have received approval from the Federal Trade Commission to proceed with the transaction in which Bi-Lo Holdings will acquire substantially all of the stores in the Sweetbay, Harveys and Reid’s supermarket chains from Delhaize.

Kroger has promoted Dennis Gibson to president of the QFC division. He succeeds Joe Fey, who was named president of Kroger's Mid-Atlantic division in January.

Gibson has been serving as VP merchandising in Kroger's Columbus division.

Although the Home Depot’s overall sales missed analysts' expectations, the retailer said the calendar shift, which resulted in one fewer week in the fourth quarter compared to the prior-year quarter, affected its results.  

The world's largest home improvement retailer reported fourth-quarter total sales of $17.7 billion, down 3% from the same quarter last year, which benefited from an extra week in the calendar. On a 13-week basis, the company's sales actually increased 3.9%.

Amazon customers in the U.S., U.K. and Germany can now buy, spend and earn Amazon Coins on their Android phones and tablets. Previously available for use exclusively on Kindle Fire tablets, Amazon Coins can now be used to buy the latest apps, purchase extra lives within Candy Crush or unlock Red’s amazing Super Roaster in Angry Birds GO directly from their Android devices.