On Friday, Shares of TJX Companies Inc (NYSE:TJX), lost -3.73% to $71.56.
The TJX Companies, declared that it has signed a definitive agreement to purchase Trade Secret, an off-price retailer that operates 35 stores in Australia, from Gazal Corporation Limited (GZL.AX) for a purchase price of AUD$80 million. The potential acquisition of Trade Secret provides TJX an opportunistic entry into Australia, where TJX presently operates one of its 13 buying offices. TJX anticipates the transaction, which has customary conditions to closing, to be consummated by the end of calendar 2015.
Trade Secret offers branded apparel for women, men and children, as well as footwear, accessories and home fashions at great values. Virtually all of the Trade Secret stores are located in the eastern part of Australia. Trade Secret opened its first store in 1992 and since then, has grown to AUD$164.5 million in revenue for its fiscal year ended June 2015.
Carol Meyrowitz, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The TJX Companies, Inc., stated, “We are excited about the anticipated addition of Trade Secret to the TJX family of companies and expanding to another continent, which underscores the strength of our international growth opportunities. TJX is one of the few major U.S. retailers to have expanded successfully in international markets, counting Canada and Europe, which gives us confidence in our potential growth in Australia. With consumer demographics similar to Canada, we see Trade Secret as a strong platform to grow in Australia similar to how we entered Canada with our acquisition of Winners in 1990 and grew that business into a leading Canadian retailer. We believe TJX can further develop Trade Secret by leveraging our international leadership experience, buying scale, vendor universe, marketing, and other capabilities. We view Trade Secret as a good fit with our own corporate culture and are looking forward to growing this business for the future.”
The TJX Companies, Inc. operates as an off-price apparel and home fashions retailer in the United States and internationally. It operates through four segments: Marmaxx, HomeGoods, TJX Canada, and TJX Europe.
Shares of Orbitz Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:OWW), declined 0.09% to $11.49, during its last trading session.
As more consumers turn to smartphones as their primary computing device and grow comfortable with making more considered and complex purchases on small screens, Orbitz.com declared that it is the first online travel company to sell vacation packages in a mobile app – ongoing its history of innovation and leadership in mobile development.
The award-winning Orbitz.com mobile app, named one of the most loved consumer travel apps by Applause, now allows consumers to easily search and book tens of thousands of flight plus hotel vacation package combinations in just a few taps. The app suggests flight and hotel packages with the best value, allowing consumers to easily select and book a vacation in just two minutes. Need a larger room, or to fly at a different time? No problem. Travelers can easily customize their package, changing hotel, room type and flight according to their preference. And before they book, the app will show consumers how much they will save by booking the hotel and flight together.
“The focus across the travel industry has been on last-minute hotel bookings in mobile apps, but at Orbitz, we are starting to see an expansion of how consumers are using their mobile devices,” said Chris Brown, chief product officer of Orbitz.com. “The launch of vacation packages in our app is so timely because consumers are no longer only using mobile devices for searching or making last-minute plans but are increasingly booking bigger trips requiring more advanced planning. Over the past year, Orbitz has seen a 100 percent enhance in vacation package bookings on a smartphone through our mobile web site. On average, customers are spending nearly $1,700 on those packages and purchasing them almost two months in advance. We’re thrilled to now offer an app-based experience that makes booking a flight plus hotel vacation package easy and lightning fast.”
Orbitz Worldwide, Inc. operates as an online travel company worldwide. It uses technology that enables leisure and business travelers to research, plan, and book a range of travel products and services, counting hotels, flights, vacation packages, car rentals, rail tickets, cruises, travel insurance, destination, services and event tickets.
At the end of Friday’s trade, Shares of Principal Financial Group Inc (NYSE:PFG), lost -3.90% to $53.93.
The Principal Financial Group® declared the Board of Directors, as part of its planned succession process, has elected Daniel J. Houston president and chief executive officer effective August 18, 2015. Larry Zimpleman will continue to serve as executive chairman of the board and advise Dan as he takes on his new responsibilities.
“Careful and thoughtful succession planning is an integral part of our business success,” says Zimpleman. “Dan brings 31 years of experience and extensive knowledge of our global businesses and tremendous leadership skills. I could not be more confident about the future of The Principal.”
“I am very proud to continue the great legacy Larry leaves behind,” says Houston. “I have had the remarkable privilege of learning from him. He not only led our organization through the financial crisis but also assisted us evolve from a domestic employee benefits company to a global leader in retirement and investment administration. I look forward to leading this organization as we continue to execute our strategy and build on our leadership positions in asset administration, retirement, and protection.”
Principal Financial Group, Inc. provides retirement, asset administration, and insurance products and services. It operates through Retirement and Investor Services, Principal Global Investors, Principal International, and U.S. Insurance Solutions segments.
Finally, Sigma-Aldrich Corporation (NASDAQ:SIAL), ended its last trade with -0.19% loss, and closed at $139.32.
Sigma-Aldrich Corporation declared the Company has received ISO 13485 certification for expanded quality assurance capabilities at its Dekalb and Barton facilities located in St. Louis. The certification extends Sigma-Aldrich’s ability to manufacture and offer critical raw materials, such as enzymes, proteins and antibodies used in diagnostic assays, and provides in vitro diagnostic (IVD) customers with industry-leading assurance of compriseent quality to meet and exceed their supply chain needs at a time of raised regulatory requirements.
The Dekalb site, which manufactures enzymes and proteins, achieved the ISO 13485 certification following noteworthy investments in production and packaging facilities in addition to personnel training. A similar commitment to invest in capabilities for the diagnostics customer segment enabled ISO 13485 certification of quality administration systems at the state-of-the-art Barton distribution warehouse, that can now serve as a central North American distribution center for Sigma-Aldrich raw materials designed for use in IVD manufacturing applications. These two St. Louis-based sites join the growing roster of ISO 13485 certified facilities located in Jerusalem and Rehovot (Israel, obtained in Q4 of 2014), which manufacture antibodies and enzymes, in addition to the St. Louis Ewing site, which provides OEM assay manufacturing services to diagnostic customers.
As one of the leading suppliers of raw materials to the diagnostic market, Sigma-Aldrich made an investment to extend its ISO 13485 certification based on the Company’s assessment of clients’ current and future needs. Sigma-Aldrich continually invests in quality assurance initiatives and has 44 Quality Control laboratories worldwide, in addition to about 800 employees within the Sigma-Aldrich Quality organization.
“Our continued investment in facilities, processes and personnel represents Sigma-Aldrich’s ongoing commitment as a leader in quality and supplier to the regulated life science industries – in particular for our planned partners in the diagnostics customer segment,” said Tom Beil, Vice President of Quality & Regulatory Affairs at Sigma-Aldrich. “Improving the reliability of raw materials and reducing risk in the supply chain are crucial for our IVD customers and are enabling factors when bringing new assays to market faster. In turn, they are able to serve their customers – patients – in the most efficient way possible.”
Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, a life science and high technology company, develops, manufactures, purchases, and distributes various chemicals, biochemicals, and equipment products worldwide.
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