PITTSBURGH — Dick’s Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS) reported 19.3 percent growth in same-store sales for its fiscal fourth quarter, which ended on Jan. 30, 2021, as well as a record-setting 9.3 percent sales growth for the full year 2020. In addition to posting healthy sales within its brick-and-mortar stores as customers sought home workout equipment in lieu of visiting gyms amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pittsburgh-based retailer also reported year-over-year growth of 100 percent across its online sales platform. E-commerce sales increased by 57 percent alone in the fourth quarter, though this figure represents a decline from the 95 percent growth in e-commerce sales that Dick’s Sporting Goods posted in its fiscal third quarter. The company recorded quarterly net sales of approximately $3.1 billion, nearly a 20 percent increase from the fourth quarter of 2019. Dick’s Sporting Goods also opened a number of new stores in 2020 in markets such as Houston, San Antonio, Atlanta, Cape Cod and metro Boston and now operates about 730 stores throughout the country. The company’s stock price opened at $72 per share on Thursday, March 11, up from $30.56 per share a year ago. “We’ve never had a year quite like 2020,” said Ed …
SAN FRANCISCO — Kilroy Realty Corp. (NYSE: KRC) has agreed to sell The Exchange on Sixteenth, a 750,000-square-foot office campus located at 1800 Owens St. in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood. The buyer was not disclosed, but the San Francisco Chronicle reported it was KKR, a private equity firm based in New York. The agreed purchase price is a little more than $1 billion, equating to approximately $1,440 per square foot. Kilroy Realty says this is the highest per-square-foot sales price for a “major property” in the history of San Francisco’s commercial real estate market. The Chronicle reports the sale represents the second largest transaction for a single property in the city’s history. “This transaction demonstrates that quality assets in quality locations remain highly attractive to buyers, and in this case generated a record price,” says John Kilroy, chairman and CEO of Kilroy Realty. Software storage giant Dropbox Inc. (NASDAQ: DBX) signed a 15-year lease for its corporate headquarters at the campus in 2017. The San Francisco Business Times reported last summer that the company listed 270,000 square feet of its space at the campus for sublease as the COVID-19 pandemic caused most of its staff to work remotely. Kilroy …
IRVING, TEXAS — Affiliates of Apollo Global Management Inc. (NYSE: APO) have entered into an agreement to buy discount retailer Michaels (NASDAQ: MIK) and take the company private in a deal that is valued at approximately $5 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, Apollo will tender an offer to acquire all outstanding shares of Michaels common stock for $22 per share in cash. The purchase price represents a 47 percent premium over the Irving-based arts and crafts retailer’s closing stock price on Feb. 26, the last trading day prior to press speculation about a potential transaction involving Michaels. The deal is expected to close during the first half of Michaels’ fiscal year. “Michaels has continued to elevate its position as the leading player in the exciting arts and crafts industry,” said Andrew Jhawar, Apollo Global Management’s senior partner and head of retail and consumer group. “We believe there is a significant opportunity to enhance the Michaels brand, store experience and omnichannel offering to its customers across North America.” Michaels currently operates about 1,250 stores across the United States and Canada and employs approximately 45,000 people.
MINNEAPOLIS — Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) has unveiled plans to invest approximately $4 billion annually during the next several years in an effort to accelerate new store openings and store remodels, as well as enhance its fulfillment services and strengthen the company’s supply chain. The Minneapolis-based retailer plans to increase its fresh and frozen food pickup assortment as well as launch adult beverage pickup in 800 more stores over the next few months. Target will continue to incorporate brand partnerships, including the opening of approximately 100 Ulta Beauty “shop-in-shops” in 2021, with plans to add hundreds more over time. Building on its 15-year relationship with Apple, Target has introduced a new Apple shopping destination online and in 17 stores. More locations are scheduled to roll out this fall. The discount retailer plans to open 30 to 40 new stores each year in urban centers, college campuses and dense suburban cities across the country. In urban centers such as New York City, Los Angeles and Portland, Target will open more small-format stores. It also plans to open small-format stores at the University of Georgia and University of Michigan. Target opened 30 new stores in 2020. Target also expects to accelerate its …
BURBANK, CALIF. — Once a shopping mall mainstay, The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) has announced plans to close at least 60 of its brick-and-mortar locations — or 30 percent — in the U.S. and Canada in a bid to shift its focus to e-commerce. These closures are being described as the “beginning” of the company’s downsizing efforts, according to The New York Times, with a significant number of overseas stores also expected to close in 2021. The specific stores to be closed were not disclosed. Changing consumer behavior was cited as a catalyst for the announced closures, according to CNBC. The Walt Disney Co. owns and operates 200 Disney Stores in North America, 60 in Europe, 45 in Japan and two in China, according to the company’s annual report for fiscal year 2020. These closures mark the company’s latest effort in revamping the Disney Store shopping experience. The Walt Disney Co. redesigned a number of stores in 2017 in an attempt to boost business, according to The New York Times, incorporating live video feeds from the company’s theme parks and skewing merchandise away from toys and towards fashion for young adults. Disney also expanded its merchandising relationship with Target during 2019, announcing …
LAS VEGAS — Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) has agreed to sell its Las Vegas properties and operations, including The Venetian Resort Las Vegas and the Sands Expo and Convention Center, for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $6.2 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, VICI Properties Inc. (NYSE: VICI) will acquire all of the land and real estate assets associated with the Venetian for $4 billion in cash, representing a capitalization rate of 6.2 percent. Affiliates of Apollo Global Management Inc. (NYSE: APO) will acquire the operating company of the Venetian for $2.2 billion, of which $1.2 billion is in the form of a secured term loan, and the remainder is payable in cash. The closing of the transactions is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. It is expected to be completed by the end of the year. Regarding the sale, Sands says it plans to focus on reinvestment in Asia and pursue new growth prospects. “Asia remains the backbone of this company and our developments in Macao and Singapore are the center of our attention. We will always look for ways to reinvest in our properties and those communities,” says Robert Goldstein, chairman and …
MINNEAPOLIS — Riding on the strength of digital sales, Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) reported that its fourth-quarter sales grew 20.5 percent compared with the same period a year ago. The Minneapolis-based retailer’s quarter ended Jan. 30. Comparable store sales increased 6.9 percent while digital sales grew 118 percent, accounting for two-thirds of the company’s overall growth. Same-day services such as order pickup grew 212 percent, led by more than 500 percent growth in drive-up services. CNBC reported that Target’s earnings topped Wall Street’s estimates, as its sales got a lift from a strong holiday season and stimulus checks. For the year, Target’s 2020 sales growth of more than $15 billion was greater than the company’s total sales growth over the prior 11 years. “Following years of investment to build a durable, scalable and sustainable business model, we saw record growth in 2020, as our guests turned to Target to safely provide for their families throughout the pandemic,” said Brian Cornell, chairman and CEO, in a news release. Target’s stock price opened at $190.27 per share Tuesday, March 2, up from $109.06 per share one year ago.
SPRINGDALE, ARK. — CBRE has arranged a $30.1 million sale-leaseback of 13 freestanding grocery stores leased to Harps Foods Stores Inc. totaling 459,525 square feet in Arkansas and Missouri. Harps sold the portfolio to New Jersey-based Essential Properties Realty Trust Inc. Will Lightfoot, Jason Little, David Erstine and Hunter Groce of CBRE represented the seller in the transaction. Since 2015, CBRE assisted Harps in sale-leaseback transactions totaling $110 million. All 13 properties were sold subject to new, long-term net leases with Harps and will continue to operate under Harps-operated brands, including Harps Food Stores and 10Box. The sale will not affect store operations in any way. Harp’s Food Stores Inc., based in Springdale, is a chain of 113 supermarkets located across Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas. In 2001, the company did a leveraged buy-out with the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) purchasing outstanding stock from the family and management. Harps is the largest employee-owned company headquartered in Arkansas and the 20th largest in the United States.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Retail Federation (NRF) predicts that U.S. retail sales will grow anywhere from 6.5 percent to 8.2 percent this year, with a total of more than $4.3 trillion in sales. The NRF attributes the expected growth in retail sales to the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines over the course of the year, which will lead to stores to be frequented en masse. Many Americans were homebound in 2020 and so in turn they shifted to a more e-commerce focus. Online sales grew by 21.9 percent last year to total $969.4 billion in sales. The NRF reported that overall retail sales grew 6.7 percent to $4.1 trillion last year. (The numbers exclude automobile dealers, gasoline stations and restaurants.) E-commerce is anticipated to grow even more in 2021, with the NRF predicting a 18 to 23 percent growth rate and for online sales to hover around $1.14 trillion to $1.19 trillion. Additionally, the Washington, D.C.-based trade group expects the economy to gain from 220,000 to 300,000 jobs each month this year. Overall, the NRF predicts GDP annualized growth of 4.5 to 5 percent, up from the 4.1 percent annualized growth in fourth-quarter 2020. NRF’s chief economist Jack Kleinhenz …
LOUISVILLE, KY. — Louisville-based Papa John’s International Inc. (NASDAQ: PZZA) reported that net sales for the company’s fiscal fourth-quarter 2020 totaled $469.8 million, a 12.5 percent increase from its fourth-quarter 2019 revenue and better than what Wall Street experts predicted, according to CNBC. Total revenue in fiscal 2020 exceeded $1.8 billion, a 12 percent improvement from 2019 amid what president and CEO Rob Lynch dubbed “one of the most challenging years in history.” (Papa John’s fiscal 2020 ended on Dec. 27.) CNBC reports that the pizza chain’s quarterly earnings fell short of expectations based on a survey conducted by Refinitiv, a subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange Group. Papa John’s may have missed the mark for the quarterly estimates due to higher food production costs, a new corporate office and employee bonuses, according to the news outlet. Papa John’s opened a new Atlanta office in the fourth quarter, and also gave $2.7 million to its front-line team members as an end-of-the-year bonus. Refinitiv survey takers predicted Papa John’s should have made 46 cents per share instead of the actual 40 cents it earned in the fourth quarter. Worldwide, Papa John’s comparable store sales increased 15.5 percent in the fourth quarter. …