Retail

Bloomberg Massmart Holdings Ltd., the South African grocery and general goods retailer owned by Wal-Mart Stores Inc., said tougher control of costs wasn’t enough to prevent earnings falling during “the most difficult trading conditions in recent memory.” First-half operating profit before interest declined by 6.6 percent to $58 million, the Johannesburg-based company said. Sales increased 0.5 percent to 42.5 billion ...

Bloomberg Roots Canada Ltd., the iconic retailer known for its casual wear and leather goods emblazoned with beaver logos, has hired banks to prepare an initial public offering this year, according to people familiar with the matter. The Canadian clothing company is working with Toronto-Dominion Bank, Credit Suisse Group AG and Bank of Montreal on the share sale, the people ...

Bloomberg Shoprite Holdings Ltd. won’t let the purchase of a 22.7 percent stake in the food retailer by Steinhoff International Holdings NV affect its independence and is on the hunt for acquisitions of its own, according to Chief Executive Officer Pieter Engelbrecht. Africa’s largest supermarket chain will continue to dictate its own strategy, the CEO said after an earnings presentation ...

Bloomberg US retail stocks have been wildly volatile for years. Now that turbulence is spreading to their close cousins, apparel stocks. Name a major company in the sector and chances are it’s posted an eye-catching tumble—or in some instances, gain—at some point this year. Coach plunged 15 percent one day last week. Michael Kors soared 22 percent in early August, ...

Bloomberg Macy’s Inc. rose after naming former eBay Inc. Senior Vice President Hal Lawton as president, bringing in an executive with an extensive technology background to the struggling department-store giant. Lawton, who starts on September 8, will be responsible for the Macy’s brand, including merchandising, marketing, stores and operations, the company. He inherits the post from Jeff Gennette, who took ...

Bloomberg Tesco Plc’s sales growth outpaced its main UK rivals in the last month as the country’s biggest grocer continued its revival in the face of a squeeze on disposable incomes. Separate reports from researchers Kantar Worldpanel and Nielsen both pointed to a strong month for the market leader, pushing its shares up the most in more than a month. ...

Bloomberg Shoprite Holdings Ltd. full-year earnings rose 12 percent, in line with analyst estimates, as Africa’s largest food retailer boosted market share in its home market of South Africa and continued to expand elsewhere in the continent. Headline earnings per share, which exclude one-time items, were 10.07 rand a share in the 12 months through June, the Cape Town-based company ...

Reuters Turkish discount retailer Sok is planning an initial public offering in 2018, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, the latest sign that Turkey’s IPO market may be coming back to life. Sok, with more than 4,700 stores and 21,000 employees, is one of Turkey’s biggest discount retailers, selling groceries, fresh produce and household items. It is 39 ...

Bloomberg Estee Lauder Cos., the seven-decade-old cosmetics company, is getting a payoff from its push to acquire hipper brands and expand its e-commerce business. The shares jumped as much as 8.1 percent, the most since November 2015, after the beauty company forecast annual profit that exceeded Wall Street expectations. Beyond the boost from its new brands, Estee Lauder also cited ...

Bloomberg Jack Ma is ahead of Jeff Bezos in one area: grocery stores. For years, it looked to some like Ma’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. was simply following in the footsteps of Bezos’ Amazon.com Inc., the world’s largest e-commerce company. Just like Seattle-based Amazon, China’s online shopping giant started a cloud-computing business and created original entertainment content. But when Amazon’s ...