Business Analytics

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y. — The NPD Group Inc. has named Kevin Gilbert as director of home improvement, reporting to Perry James, the president of home and office supplies. 

Prior to joining NPD, Gilbert was VP client solutions at SymphonyIRI, where he managed the Diageo and Kraft accounts. In addition to his role at SymphonyIRI, Gilbert spent many years in the packaged goods industry in category management, sales development, and trade planning roles, working with such companies as Kellogg, Bayer, and Pinnacle Foods.

Minneapolis -- Supervalu reported Tuesday that earnings for the first quarter rose 10% to $74 million, compared with $67 million in the year-ago period. The grocer cited effective cost-cutting for the strong performance, which topped Wall Street expectations.

The operator of Albertsons and Jewel-Osco supermarkets saw revenue fall 4% to $11.11 billion, just missing analysts’ expectations of $11.13 billion. Same-store sales dropped 3.9%.

SAN FRANCISCO — Gap Inc. announced that Bella Goren, CFO AMR Corp. and American Airlines Inc., has been appointed to the company’s board of directors, effective Aug. 15. She will become the 11th member of the board and will serve on the company’s audit and finance committee.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — eBay reported that revenue for the second quarter ended June 30, increased 25% to $2.8 billion, compared with the same period of 2010. The company recorded second quarter net income on a GAAP basis of $283.4 million, or 22 cents per diluted share, and non-GAAP net income of $630.9 million, or 48 cents per diluted share.

The company reported that its PayPal business' net total payment volume grew 34% to $28.7 billion in the second quarter of 2011 compared to the same period of last year.

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. — Tractor Supply Company continues to operate in a fertile market segment that enabled the nation’s largest farm and ranch store chain to harvest record profits during the second quarter.

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Safeway Inc. reported net income of $145.8 million, or 41 cents per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2011 compared with $141.3 million, or 37 cents per diluted share for the second quarter of 2010.

The company reported that total sales increased 7.1% to $10.2 billion in the second quarter of 2011 from $9.5 billion in the second quarter of 2010. Identical-store sales, excluding fuel saw a 0.5% increase.

New York City -- A Bloomberg report on Thursday said that consumer confidence stagnated last week, as the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index was minus 43.3 in the period to July 17, the highest since April, compared with minus 43.9 the prior week.

The monthly gauge of the economic outlook improved from a two-year low, according to the report.

Cleveland -- Sherwin Williams Co. reported Thursday that profit for the second quarter fell 1% to $179.1 million, compared with $181.7 million in the year-ago period.

The paint company cited higher raw material costs and increased expenses for the performance slip.

Revenue rose 10% to $2.35 billion from $2.14 billion, missing Wall Street expectations of $2.41 billion. Same-store sales increased 4%.
 

Mexico City, Mexico -- DemandTec said Thursday that Latin America’s largest drugstore retailer Farmacias Ahumada S.A. (FASA) has extended its agreement to use DemandTec’s advanced pricing analytics to drive profit and customer loyalty.

Framingham, Mass. -- Staples announced the promotion of Christine Putur to chief information officer. In her new role, Putur will have global responsibility for information technology strategy and execution.

Putur joined Staples in 1999, and has since held various leadership roles on the company’s e-commerce, technology strategy, program management and US Retail technology teams. She most recently served as senior VP information systems for the company’s North American Delivery businesses.