Apparel & Footwear

Designer Brands acquires Canadian footwear retailer Rubino

Designer Brands CEO Doug Howe announced the acquisition of 28 Rubino stores in Q1, in a move to “expand our reach and grow our market share,” he said on an earnings call June 4. The company named Sarah Crockett to chief marketing officer of DSW where she will oversee planning, development and implementation of all marketing and advertising initiatives for DSW’s nearly 500 U.S. stores and its e-commerce operation. The announcements came amid the company’s Q1 earnings, where net sales were nearly flat at $746.6 million compared to $741.1 million in the year-ago period. The company maintained its full-year guidance for 2024.

PVH Earnings Top Estimates as Tommy CEO Martijn Hagman Steps Down

PVH Corp. is starting to get back on plan. The parent company of Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein — which gave investors a jolt in April with a disappointing outlook for the year — is falling back into its rhythm, topping estimates for the first quarter and nudging up its earnings forecast for the year. “What you see in Q1 and overtime from us is that we keep executing our plan,” said Stefan Larsson, chief executive officer, in an interview. “We delivered on the first quarter, we keep delivering on our plan and we keep building execution momentum.” Larsson has been remaking PVH, shifting the company from a dealmaker ready to bring in new businesses to a brand builder focused on expanding with Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein.

Shinola, Filson parent appoints CEO, chief marketer

Shinola and Filson parent Bedrock Manufacturing Company has appointed Steve Katzman to the role of CEO and Kevin Wertz as chief marketing officer, according to a release sent to sister publication Fashion Dive. Both Katzman and Wertz previously worked in senior advisory roles at Bedrock. Katzman, whose role is effective immediately, joins the company after working as a partner at private investment firm Camelot Venture Group and real estate development company PS Ventures. He takes over the role from Awenate Cobbina, who joined Bedrock in 2021, per the release. Wertz was most recently chief marketing officer at SmileDirectClub, which declared bankruptcy in 2023. Before that, he was with advertising and marketing communications firm Campbell Ewald.

 

 

Athletic & Sporting Goods

Lululemon shares pop 10% despite lackluster earnings report and guidance

Lululemon’s growth in the Americas, its largest market, appears to be stalling after the retailer on June 5 reported flat comparable sales in the region and weak guidance for the current quarter. The athletic apparel retailer handily beat Wall Street’s earnings estimates, but only narrowly topped revenue expectations. Lululemon’s full fiscal-year guidance suggests the company is betting conditions will improve in the back half of the year. Here is how Lululemon did in its first fiscal quarter compared to what Wall Street was anticipating, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG: Earnings per share was $2.54 vs. $2.38 expected. Revenue was $2.21 billion vs. $2.19 billion expected. Despite the tepid growth, Lululemon’s stock jumped 10% in extended trading on June 5th.

 

Consortium Brand Partners Acquires Outdoor Voices

Consortium Brand Partners (CBP), a leading and innovative consumer-focused investment manager, has announced the acquisition of Outdoor Voices, the inspiring athleisure lifestyle brand founded in 2013 by Tyler Haney. This marks CBP’s second acquisition, following its announcement of a majority stake in Reese Witherspoon’s fashion & lifestyle brand, Draper James in September 2023.  Consortium Brand Partners’ acquisition of the Outdoor Voices assets is driven by a focus and opportunity in category growth and global expansion for the brand, while strategically leveraging owned channels for enhanced market penetration and brand visibility.

Authentic Sells Boardriders Retail Ops in W. Europe; Inks Brand Licenses for Key Cats

Authentic Brands Group (Authentic) has inked a long-term partnership with The Beaumanoir Group, a global leader in product development and distribution, for Quiksilver, Roxy, Billabong, DC Shoes, Element, RVCA and VonZipper across key Western European regions, including France, Germany and UK.  Through the partnership, Beaumanoir, which is headquartered in France, becomes the brands’ strategic operating and sourcing partner, taking on design, manufacturing, wholesale, retail and e-commerce for key lifestyle categories such as apparel, swim, travel, accessories, and more for men, women and kids.  Beaumanoir reportedly acquired the retail operations for the Boardriders brands across Western Europe and licensed the rights to manufacture, design and distribute branded products. The arrangement is reportedly both an acquisition of the retail operation and a partnership for licensing rights.

Cosmetics & Pharmacy

Andrew Fitzsimons Acquires His Hair Care Brand From Maesa

Celebrity hairstylist Andrew Fitzsimons has announced that he has purchased his eponymous hair care brand from incubator, Maesa. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. According to a report published by WWD, the brand is thought to have achieved sales of US$20 million in the 12 months after launch and turnover is expected to double over the next year thanks to international expansion. The brand’s HQ will be located in Fitzsimons’ homeland, Ireland and Caroline Dalton has been named as CEO.

Estée Lauder completes the acquisition of DECIEM

The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) has completed its acquisition of the Canadian multi-brand company DECIEM Beauty Group. Estée Lauder first invested in DECIEM in 2017, increased its stake to become majority owner in 2021, and recently exercised its option to purchase the remaining interests after a three-year period on May 31, 2024 using cash on hand for an estimated 860 million dollars. The total investment approximated 1.7 billion dollars over the three tranches. “As a digitally native organisation with a highly engaged following among millennial and Gen Z consumers, DECIEM helps to strategically expand our skin care portfolio, and we believe there are many more exciting growth opportunities ahead,” said Fabrizio Freda, president and chief executive officer, ELC.

Suave Brands Company successfully completes acquisition of #1 lip care brand ChapStick

Suave Brands Company (Suave Brands), a portfolio company of Boston-based private equity firm Yellow Wood Partners LLC and leading personal care brand announced the completion of its acquisition of the Chapstick brand from Haleon, the company confirmed this week. Suave Brands was established last year following its acquisition by Yellow Wood Partners from Unilever, and ChapStick is ranked #1 brand by volume in the lip care category. As previously disclosed by Haleon, Suave Brands purchased ChapStick for “pre-tax cash proceeds of approximately $430 million, as well as a passive minority interest in Suave Brands Company.”

Bath & Body Works Slides Despite Earnings Beat as Guidance Disappoints

Shares of retailer Bath & Body Works (BBWI) slid in premarket trading June 4 despite a first-quarter earnings report that surpassed analyst expectations and the company’s own guidance. Net sales slipped less than 1% year-over-year to $1.38 billion, just above analyst expectations of $1.37 billion, according to estimates compiled by Visible Alpha. Profit rose 7% to $87 million, or 38 cents per share, better than the $72.4 million and 32 cents per share analysts had expected. In guidance released in its previous quarterly report, Bath & Body Works had projected a first-quarter sales decline of 2% to 4.5%, with EPS expected between 28 cents to 33 cents.

 

Discounters & Department Stores

Dollar Tree is exploring a sale of its Family Dollar brand

Dollar Tree announced Wednesday it is considering a sale of its more grocery-focused Family Dollar brand. The company had recently shared plans to close almost 1,000 Family Dollar stores in an attempt to revamp the struggling business. The discounter closed more than 500 locations during its fiscal first quarter, it said Wednesday. “We are already beginning to see progress in this targeted strategy in the streamlined Family Dollar banner,” the company said in a press release. “The unique needs of each banner at this time – transformation at Family Dollar and growth acceleration at Dollar Tree – lead us to the decision to conduct a thorough review of strategic alternatives for the Family Dollar business.” Dollar Tree bought Family Dollar in 2015 for almost $9 billion.

Walmart boosts InHome delivery reach by nearly 30%

Walmart announced Friday it is expanding its InHome delivery service to an additional 10 million households. The expansion bolsters access to the service in the greater Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit, Minneapolis and San Bernardino, California, areas. The growth of InHome, which is an add-on to the retailer’s Walmart+ membership, marks a big step for Walmart’s growing grocery e-commerce business.

Dollar General to eliminate ‘vast majority’ of self-checkout, reduce new store openings

Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos said Thursday that the company plans to remove self-checkout from “the vast majority of stores” as part of larger overall shrink reduction efforts that include changes in supply chain and merchandising. Dollar General has already removed self-checkouts from 12,000 of its more than 20,000 stores, Vasos said. The discount retailer also said it plans to increase the number of store remodels but reduce planned store openings for fiscal year 2024. Dollar General said it now expects to open 730 new stores — down from 800 previously planned. It also plans 1,620 remodels, up from 1,500. It’s maintaining plans to relocate 85 stores. Dollar General’s first quarter net sales rose 6.1% year over year to $9.9 billion, driven by sales contributions from new stores and growth in same-store sales, the company said in a Thursday earnings announcement. Net income fell 29.4% to $363.3 million from $514.4 million a year ago, while same-store sales rose 2.4% for Q1 year over year.

Nordstrom Rack continues to overshadow the department store in Q1

Nordstrom Q1 net sales rose 5.1% year over year to $3.2 billion, with comps up 3.8% and digital sales about flat. Full-line Nordstrom net sales edged up 0.6%, with comps up 1.8% and gross merchandise value up 0.3%. (Last year’s Canadian closures hurt Q1 net sales by 110 basis points.) Off-price Rack net sales rose 13.9%, with comps up 7.9%. Gross margin contracted by 225 basis points to 31.6%, in part due to theft in its transportation network. Net loss shrank 81% to $39 million. On a call with analysts, the company said it had no update on the work of a special board committee, which continues to “carefully evaluate any proposal that may be received and consider whether it is in the best interest of Nordstrom and all shareholders,” including a potential proposal by Erik and Pete Nordstrom to take the company private.

 

 

Emerging Consumer Companies

Fizz, debit card for Gen Z college students, raises $14.4 million

Fizz, maker of the debit card designed specifically for Gen Zers, announced that it’s raised $14.4 million in seed funding led by Kleiner Perkins, with participation from SV Angel, Y Combinator, and New Era Ventures. The startup went through Y Combinator’s Summer 2021 cohort. They company aims to make using the card a way to establish credit and become more educated about finances generally and ultimately be financially independent. To do this, Fizz made its core an artificial intelligence budgeting product and to offer gamified financial literacy courses presented in “a fun and interactive quiz format.” Its target demographic is college students, aged 18 to 24.

 

 

Food & Beverage

Chobani founder and CEO buys Anchor Brewing

Craft beer pioneer Anchor Brewing Co. — maker of its famous Anchor Steam and Christmas Ale beers — has been purchased by Chobani yogurt founder and billionaire Hamdi Ulukaya. The purchase price was not disclosed. Ulukaya said in a statement issued last week that Anchor embodies much of what makes San Francisco so great and he’s excited to be part of the company’s rebirth. Beer lovers mourned when the brewing company, established in San Francisco in 1896, announced its closure last year amid declining sales and increased competition from canned cocktails, crafted drinks, spirits and wines. Anchor was rescued previously from near financial insolvency in the 1960s when it was acquired by Fritz Maytag, who sparked a revival in small-scale and local brewing. Japanese brewer Sapporo then purchased Anchor Brewing in 2017.

Encore acquires US frozen baked-goods company Chalet Desserts

US-based private-equity firm Encore Consumer Capital has acquired local frozen desserts and baked-goods business Chalet Desserts. Chalet CEO Dave Laukat and the rest of the management team will remain on board, according to a statement from the investor, which did not disclose the financial terms. “I am excited about the partnership with Encore and the experience they bring to the table,” Laukat said. “With their support, I am looking forward to our next chapter of growth.” Kate Wallman, managing director of Encore, said Chalet is a “category leader” and the investor will support its growth “through add-on acquisitions, organic growth initiatives and investments in capacity”. Chalet, based in Sacramento, California, sells its frozen bakery desserts and baked goods into in-store bakeries at supermarkets and convenience stores, as well as supplying foodservice and ingredients end-markets.

Valeo Foods Group Acquires Leading Italian Bakery Company Dal Colle

Valeo Foods Group (“Valeo Foods” or “The Group”), one of Europe’s leading producers of quality sweets, treats and snacks, has completed the process to acquire assets of a renowned Italian producer of high-quality bakery products, Dal Colle. With a history and heritage dating back 120 years, Dal Colle produces a range of bakery products, sweet treats and snacks for every occasion including Pandori, Panettoni and Croissants. Its range of over 180 products is currently sold in over 35 countries around the world. Dal Colle provides a highly complementary addition to Valeo’s expanding Italian platform and operations, built on its initial acquisition of Balconi in 2015 and the subsequent acquisitions of Val D’Enza in 2017 and IDP Pattini in 2023.

Vandemoortele acquires Dolciaria Acquaviva

Belgian family-owned food group Vandemoortele has announced it will acquire Italian bakery specialist Dolciaria Acquaviva from private equity firm Apheon. In a statement, Vandemoortele said the deal will fortify its position in the Italian frozen bakery market and accelerate its growth. It will enable the group to offer customers a range of innovations across a larger set of categories including bread, savoury specialities, pastries and patisserie. Dolciaria Acquaviva was founded in 1979 by the Acquaviva family. It has since developed a widespread product portfolio in the frozen bakery category and now operates through four industrial plants in Italy. The company is headquartered in Gricignano di Aversa, Caserta, with a workforce of around 200 employees overall and a turnover of around €120 million in 2023. Its founder, Pierluigi Acquaviva, will continue to be part of the company’s future as chairman of the board of directors.

 

 

Grocery & Restaurants

US Foods to sell Chef’Store

Just a few months after announcing plans to expand its Chef’Store brick-and-mortar footprint by adding five new locations, foodservice distributor US Foods Holding Corp. announced Wednesday it is dropping the chain. The company said in a press release and reiterated at its 2024 investor day event that “the company is fully committed to growing its core broadline business, and therefore has begun exploring strategic alternatives for its Chef’Store cash and carry retail business.” US Foods said it still plans to open five new Chef’Store locations later this year, bringing the chain to about 95 locations in 14 states. In a response to an email request for confirmation, US Foods said on Wednesday that the purchase of Chef’Store came with the expectation that it would “generate significant synergies with our broadline business, however, those benefits have been very limited. As we have evolved our strategy to increase focus on execution in our broadline operations, we are exploring strategic alternatives for our cash and carry stores.”

BurgerFi ‘considers strategic alternatives’ as company lags behind

BurgerFi announced Thursday that the fast-casual burger concept and owner of Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza would be “considering strategic alternatives” as the company looks to address continued fiscal challenges. BurgerFi has entered into a forbearance agreement with its existing creditors, with a relief period extending to at least July 31. Additionally, its lenders, L Catterton and TREW, have agreed to lend the company $4 million in total during this “strategic review process.” According to recent Technomic data, BurgerFi’s sales were down 7.5% from 2022 to 2023, and its unit counts were also down 5.3% year-over-year, with a closure of six underperforming stores. Comparatively, the rest of the fast-casual burger sector has been on an upward growth trajectory, with average sales growth of 8%. After acquiring Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza in Oct. 2021, the company’s sales stagnated rather than grew, and have been on a downward trajectory since its peak in 2021, according to Technomic data.

Home & Road

5 takeaways from Hooker’s Q1 earnings report

When furniture industry giant Hooker Furnishings reported a 23.2% decline in its first quarter consolidated net sales earlier this week, the company also outlined some of its plans to get back to profitability. Here are 5 takeaways: 1. A cost reduction plan is in place. 2. Housing and low demand are at the forefront 3. Orders are still up from last year, but trending downward. 4. Sunset West is a standout. 5. The company strongly believes in Caroline Hipple’s collaboration efforts.

Furniture orders improve again in March, but challenges expected for remainder of the year

Residential furniture orders climbed 2% in March over the same time last year, according to accounting firm Smith Leonard in its latest report. Orders have now risen in nine of the last 10 months. New orders were flat when compared with February. Around half of survey participants reported increased orders, compared with two-thirds reporting an increase last month. Year-to-date, orders are up 5%. Shipments for the month were down 17% from 2023 and also down 4% from February. They were down for 85% of participants. Year-to-date, shipments are down 12%.

Jewelry & Luxury

De Beers’ New Strategy: Desktop Detector, More Marketing, Less Lab-Grown

De Beers unveiled its turnaround strategy at a breakfast during JCK Las Vegas, rolling out a variety of initiatives meant to boost both the company and the overall natural diamond market. Given that De Beers is up for sale, the breakfast event and its PowerPoint presentation seemed like a dress rehearsal for a financial road show. There were profit projections from chief financial officer Richard Lawson and some frank admissions from CEO Al Cook, such as his estimate that the lab-grown craze cost the U.S. natural diamond business 14% of the total market, or $7 billion, in 2023. “We wanted the presentation to work on a number of levels,” Cook tells JCK. “We are very aware that everyone is very interested in what value there is within De Beers, so this was an opportunity to set out how we’re going to grow the company’s profits, and how we’re going to grow value.”

Movado’s Q1 Sales Fall 6%

Movado Group started its fiscal year on a low note but the retailer has big plans for the year ahead as it ramps up its marketing spend. “We are pleased with our first-quarter results, which are in line with our expectations and reflect the successful execution by our team in a retail environment that continues to be challenging,” CEO Efraim Grinberg said. “During the quarter, we drove positive momentum with powerful new product innovation led by the performance of our new Movado Bold Quest and strong double-digit growth at Movado.com, which accelerated with our spring television campaign.” Grinberg highlighted the company’s previously announced plan to increase marketing spend to $25 million, ramping up in the second quarter, and the launch of a new Movado campaign in the fall.

Luxury Sneaker Company Golden Goose Is Planning to Go Public at a Valuation of Over $3 Billion

Golden Goose, the luxury Italian sneaker label, known for its distressed-looking kicks, is planning on selling shares in an initial public offering in Milan next month, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The size of the offering has yet to be determined, but at least 25 percent of the company will be listed. Golden Goose could be valued at about €3 billion ($3.3 billion) including net debt, according to Bloomberg. With the sale, the company is hoping to raise €100 million (approximately $108 million). The IPO will let Golden Goose “open a new chapter in our story to an even broader audience,” Golden Goose CEO Silvio Campara told the WSJ.

 

Office & Leisure

GameStop shares rise 21% — close well off highs — as ‘Roaring Kitty’ posts account with $116 million

Meme stock GameStop rallied again June 3rd on speculation that Keith Gill, the man who inspired 2021′s epic short squeeze, could have a huge position in the video game retailer. Shares closed up 21% to $28 a share. It had jumped more than 70% at the open, but closed well off the highs. Gill, who goes by DeepF——Value on Reddit and Roaring Kitty on YouTube and X, reappeared the prior night, posting a screenshot of what could be his portfolio holding a significant amount of GameStop common shares and call options. The Reddit trading crowd’s favorite trader holds 5 million shares of GameStop worth $115.7 million as of May 31’s closing price, according to the account snapshot posted on Reddit’s r/SuperStonk forum.

Spotify hikes prices for second time in less than a year

Music and podcast streamer Spotify will increase its price this summer, the company announced June 3rd. Beginning in July, an individual monthly subscription to Spotify will be $11.99, up $1 from the previous rate. The price hike represents the second in less than a year for the audio streamer. The company said the changes were necessary “so that we can continue to invest in and innovate on our product features and bring users the best experience.” Spotify is one of the largest music and podcasting providers in the world, with an estimated 615 million users in some 180 markets.

Flutter Entertainment Moves Primary Listing to NYSE

Flutter Entertainment, the parent company of America’s #1 Sportsbook, FanDuel, officially moved its primary listing to the New York Stock Exchange on May 31, making good on its promise to do so during its latest earnings call early in May. Flutter moved its primary listing from the London Stock Exchange after delisting from the Euronext Dublin exchange in January and creating a secondary listing with the New York Stock Exchange. London will now be Flutter’s secondary listing, with New York taking over as the primary. “Today marks an important milestone in the evolution of Flutter with the commencement of our primary listing on the New York Stock Exchange,” said Peter Jackson, CEO of Flutter Entertainment. It is a move that Flutter shareholders and management approved earlier this year with a 98% vote.

Hilton bets big on lifestyle category, plans to double hotels in 4 years

Hilton plans to double its lifestyle portfolio to 700 hotels within the next four years, the company announced June 3rd. The hospitality company expects to open more than 100 new lifestyle hotels this year alone and named former Graduate Hotels leader Kevin Osterhaus president of global lifestyle brands to spearhead that growth. Hilton’s lifestyle hotel brands include Canopy, Curio Collection, Motto, Tastery Collection and Tempo, as well as the recently acquired Graduate and NoMad. Hilton previously said that it would double its lifestyle pipeline in the decade between 2022 and 2032. The new, more ambitious goal accounts for lifestyle brand acquisitions that have “positioned the company to further accelerate lifestyle category growth,” the company detailed in a release.

Technology & Internet

Amazon, Best Buy may soon sell smart devices with ‘hacker-safe’ label

Consumers have become accustomed to all sorts of labels and seals of approval on products in the shopping process, from the Energy Star to sustainability standards. Next up, shoppers should prepare for a hacking-safe seal of approval in the works for home gadgets and appliances coming from the federal government. Last July, the Biden administration and the Federal Communications Commission proposed the creation of the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark program, a voluntary cybersecurity product-labeling initiative to help consumers choose internet-connected devices that are certified by manufacturers as safe from hackers, scammers and other cyber criminals. The final details are still to be determined, but as proposed, the program will require participating manufacturers of smart, internet of things (IoT) devices — including doorbell cameras, voice-activated speakers, baby monitors, TVs, kitchen appliances, thermostats and fitness trackers — to meet a series of cybersecurity standards developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). That includes unique passwords, data protection, software patches and updates, and incident detection capabilities. To date, Amazon, Best Buy, Google, LG Electronics U.S.A., Logitech and Samsung Electronics have committed to the program, though none of those companies has yet to use the symbol.

 

Finance & Economy

U.S. adds a much-better-than-expected 272,000 jobs in May, but unemployment rate edges up to 4%

The U.S. economy added far more jobs than expected in May, countering fears of a slowdown in the labor market and likely reducing the Federal Reserve’s impetus to lower interest rates.  Nonfarm payrolls expanded by 272,000 for the month, up from 165,000 in April and well ahead of the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 190,000, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.  At the same time, the unemployment rate rose to 4%, the first time it has breached that level since January 2022. Economists had been expecting the rate to stay unchanged at 3.9% from April.  The increase came even though the labor force participation rate decreased to 62.5%, down 0.2 percentage point. However, the survey of households used to compute the unemployment rate showed that the level of people who reported holding jobs fell by 408,000.

Consumers Remain ‘Willing to Spend’ Even as Growth Slows

Shoppers are still willing to buy even as smaller job and wage gains and high interest rates are slowing the growth of consumer spending, National Retail Federation Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz said.  Kleinhenz’s comments came in the June issue of NRF’s Monthly Economic Review, which said gross domestic product is still expected to grow about 2.3% over 2023 but that employment is now expected to grow by an average 180,000 jobs a month, about 50,000 higher than expected this spring. Inflation as measured by the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index should drop to about 2.2% by the end of the year, close to the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%.