News

Carle Place, N.Y. – 1-800-Flowers.com reported a net loss of about $4.5 million during the first quarter of fiscal 2014, essentially unchanged from the prior year. Revenues grew 2.9% to $123 million, from $119.6 million.

New York -- Looking ahead, there is a sense of pessimism on the economy in the next few months among U.S. consumers. In September 2013, Harris Poll results showed that almost half of U.S. adults (46%) said, in the coming year, that they expect the economy to stay the same, while less than one-quarter (22%) expected it to improve and one-third (32%) expected it to get worse.

Chicago -- Four of the 10 busiest holiday shopping days will occur between Dec. 20 and Dec. 24, and retailers should prepare accordingly, according to ShopperTrak, a leading provider of shopper analytics. Additionally, with a shortened shopping season and only four weekends between Thanksgiving and Christmas – down from five last year – retailers must be ready to capture holiday spending during a narrower window of time.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. – As part of a wide-ranging strategic review of its business, Sears Holdings Corp. is considering spinning off its Lands’ End and Sears Auto Center brands. The company’s Sears Canada subsidiary has also sold five Canadian store leases to Cadillac Fairview Corporation Limited for about $383.4 million.

By Nate Dwyer, Red Peak Branding

Fresh Del Monte Produce’s top line grew 9% for the third quarter ended Sept. 27, positioning the company for growth and profitability.

The company’s earnings per diluted share were $0.11 for the quarter, compared with earnings per diluted share of $0.40 in the year-ago quarter. Excluding asset impairment and other charges, earnings per diluted share were $0.09 in the quarter, compared with $0.45 in the year-ago quarter.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas at Walmart, as the company prepares to promote more than 160,000 employees — including 25,000 promotions during its fourth quarter — ahead of the competitive holiday shopping season.

Procter & Gamble, a Worldwide Olympic Partner, kicked off the company’s Thank You Mom campaign with its Raising an Olympian series featuring Olay athlete Lindsey Vonn (United States), Gillette athletes Felix Neureuther (Germany) and Sven Kramer (Netherlands) and Pantene athlete Elena Ilinykh (Russia).

The launch of the Thank You Mom campaign marks 100 days to go until the start of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games and is supported by more than 15 P&G brands around the globe such as Pampers, Head & Shoulders and Covergirl.

Fortune Brands Home & Security, a leading home and security products company, has named Jason Baab as VP of mergers and acquisitions. His role will support the company’s growth strategy that includes expanding its portfolio.

The company also promoted Elif Sagsen-Ercel to VP of strategy. Baab and Sagsen-Ercel will report to Chuck Elias who was elected by FBHS earlier this year as SVP of strategy and corporate development.

ArbiterSports, a leading game management solutions provider, has named Jeremy Brown as the company’s chief technology officer.

According to the company, they brought in Brown because he is a software architect, user-interface designer and quality assurance expert. To address the company’s accelerated growth, a decision was made to divide the responsibilities of CTO and chief infrastructure officer between two individuals. Both roles were previously handled by Troy Black, who will retain the job of chief infrastructure officer.