CHHMA - EYE ON OUR INDUSTRY
Volume 14, Issue 19, May 21, 2014
Inside This Issue:
• Last Call to Register for the CHHMA Ontario Golf Tournament
• Bring a Group Out to CHHMA’s Night at the Races – June 18
• Lowe’s May Sales Improve After Severe Winter Hits First Quarter Results
• Target Canada President Ousted, Replaced with U.S. Company Veteran
• Home Depot Increases Full-Year Guidance Despite First Quarter Earnings Miss
• Walmart Canada’s Expansion Push Hits First Quarter Results
• What’s Left of Sears Canada?
• Home Resales in Canada Heat Up in April
• Canadian Wholesale Trade Drops Unexpectedly in Part Due to Weaker Auto Sales
• Latest U.S. Economic News
Association News
Last Call to Register for the CHHMA Ontario Golf Tournament
The 45th Annual CHHMA Ontario Golf Tournament is set for next Tuesday, May 27 at Angus Glen Golf Club in Markham, Ontario. Those playing on the South Course will have the opportunity to try out the newly renovated course for the first time!
Again this event will be in support of the inspiring children & young adults of "Ontario Special Olympics".
There are still hole sponsorship opportunities available so consider sponsoring a hole! Your company will receive recognition and thanks on all signage and promotion surrounding this event, while saluting the accomplishments of young athletes who through sports value themselves for their abilities, not disabilities.
For registration, hole sponsorship and further event details, go to: http://events.chhma.ca/golfto2014/togolf14main.html or contact Pam Winter at pwinter@chhma.ca, 416-282-0022 ext.21.
Also, we will be holding a Silent Auction in support of the CHHMA Scholarship Program which provides support for children of CHHMA member company employees to attend university or college. Consider donating an item or items: housewares or hardware products, golf items or any item interesting and/or unique would be sincerely appreciated. Whether or not you can attend the event, your donation will contribute to the Scholarship Program (http://www.chhma.ca/Public/Scholarship-Program) which has benefited 70 young people since 2001.
Click here for a Silent Auction Pledge Form: http://www.chhma.ca/Public/Page/Files/339_Silent%20Auction%20TO%20Golf%20Scholarship%20Pledge%20Form.pdf
So we hope you can make it out next Tuesday for a fun day on the course with colleagues and customers from the industry and help support some worthy causes too.
Bring a Group Out to CHHMA’s Night at the Races – June 18
CHHMA’s Night at the Races is being held at the Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto on June 18 and is an excellent venue to entertain your customers and their spouses or invite your employees for a bit of team building. The thoroughbred racing and tasty buffet makes for an all-round fun evening!
Held in the Favourites Dining Room, you have a great view of the track from any of our VIP tables.
You can now register at: http://events.chhma.ca/races2014/races14main.html.
So don't miss Wednesday, June 18th at Night at the Races.....
Industry News
Lowe’s May Sales Improve After Severe Winter Hits First Quarter Results
Lowe’s Cos Inc. said its sales picked up in May, after the company reported weaker-than-expected quarterly results as a severe winter in the United States hurt traffic to its stores. The world’s second largest home improvement chain also maintained its sales growth forecast of 5% for the year ending Jan. 30. Sales grew 2.4% in the first quarter ended May 2, as strong demand for indoor products more than offset the impact of weakness in outdoor categories. Read More >>
Target Canada President Ousted, Replaced with U.S. Company Veteran
Target Corp. has ousted the head of its troubled Canadian operations. The company said on Tuesday that Target Canada president Tony Fisher is departing immediately and being replaced by Mark Schindele, senior vice-president of merchandising operations in the U.S., who has 15 years experience at the company. Target also plans to name a non-executive chairman in Canada, a newly created advisory role “to provide counsel and support to the president of Target Canada to ensure all strategies and tactics align with the Canadian marketplace.”
Meanwhile, Target Corp. reported a 16% drop in first-quarter profit on Wednesday but showed signs of progress in its efforts to rebuild customer confidence in the wake of a massive theft of payment card data and a botched expansion into Canada. Target reported a 0.3% drop in U.S. same-store sales. In its Canadian segment, the company said its operating loss grew 3.1% to $211-million from $205-million a year earlier. Sales jumped 357% to $393-million from $86-million. It had only 24 stores in Canada in the period a year ago, compared with 127 today. Read More >>
Home Depot Increases Full-Year Guidance Despite First Quarter Earnings Miss
Home Depot’s fiscal first-quarter net income climbed 12% as a key sales metric improved despite a slow start to the spring selling season due to bad weather. But both its adjusted earnings and revenue came in short of Wall Street’s expectations. Nonetheless, the #1 home improvement retailer raised its full-year earnings forecast. Home Depot Inc. said on Tuesday it earned $1.38-billion, or $1 per share, for the three months ended May 4. That compares with $1.23-billion, or 83 cents per share, a year earlier. Read More >>
Walmart Canada’s Expansion Push Hits First Quarter Results
Walmart Canada’s market share just keeps growing, but its drive to expand in an ever competitive retail sector weighed on the company’s quarterly results released last Thursday, which marked the mass merchant’s sixth-consecutive quarter of falling same store-sales and traffic. The retailer saw an overall revenue gain of 1.2% in the period, while same-store sales, a key retail industry bellwether that strips out the effects of added square footage year-over-year, fell 1.4%. Read More >>
What’s Left of Sears Canada?
Sears Holding Corp.’s plan to explore a sale of its 51% stake in Sears Canada Inc comes as little surprise.It is no secret that the struggling retailer run by hedge fund manager Edward Lampert needs additional financing due to the cash burn at its retail operations. In fact, management publicly discussed the sale of Sears Canada after reporting weak fourth quarter results. At current prices, the stake is worth about $800-million.
The timing of a potential sale is far more interesting, particularly since Sears Canada sold its stake in seven trophy properties last year, including its crown jewel in Toronto’s Eaton Centre. This has Credit Suisse analyst Gary Balter wondering how much of the Sears’ significantly diminished adjusted EBITDA in 2013 came from those properties. “One has to wonder what the buyer of the remainder of Sears Canada gets,” the analyst told clients.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Sears Canada reported that its first-quarter loss more than doubled as sales continued to decline with low demand for spring merchandise. Read More >>
Economic News
Home Resales in Canada Heat Up in April
Canadian home sales were up 2.7% from March to April, boosted by the Vancouver and Toronto markets, according to statistics released by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) last Thursday. However, sales through the Multiple Listings Service were down 0.3% compared with a year ago and one per cent below the 10-year average. The actual (not seasonally adjusted) national average price for homes sold in April 2014 was $409,708, an increase of 7.6% from the same month last year. Read More >>
Canadian Wholesale Trade Drops Unexpectedly in Part Due to Weaker Auto Sales
Canadian wholesale trade unexpectedly dropped by 0.4% to $50.5 billion in March, pulled down in part by weaker sales of motor vehicles, Statistics Canada data indicated on Tuesday. Market operators had forecast a 0.4% increase after February’s 1.1% advance. Lower sales were recorded in three of the seven subsectors, which together accounted for 51% of wholesale sales. In volume terms, wholesale sales were down 0.2%. Year-over-year, wholesale sales are up 2.1% from March 2013.
Read More >>
Latest U.S. Economic News
U.S. housing starts jumped in April and building permits hit their highest level in nearly six years, offering hope that the troubled housing market could be stabilizing. The Commerce Department said last Friday that groundbreaking increased 13.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 1.07 million units, the highest level since November 2013; A monthly gauge of
U.S. consumer sentiment fell in May as a gloomy view on income growth clouded an otherwise positive economic outlook, a survey released last Friday showed. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan’s preliminary May reading on the overall index on consumer sentiment came in at 81.8, down from 84.1 the month before;
U.S. consumer prices recorded their largest increase in 10 months in April, pointing to some inflation in the economy. The Labor Department reported last Thursday that its Consumer Price Index increased 0.3% last month as food prices rose for a fourth consecutive month and the cost of gasoline surged ....
Read More >>
Upcoming CHHMA Events
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CHHMA Quebec Golf Classic
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Club de golf Le Fontainebleau, Blainville, Quebec
CHHMA Ontario Golf Tournament
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Angus Glen Golf Club, Markham, Ontario
CHHMA Night at the Races
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Woodbine Racetrack, Toronto, Ontario
Industry Memorial Golf Classic
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Blue Springs Golf Club, Acton, Ontario
Industry Cocktail
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Casino de Montreal, Montreal, Quebec
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CHHMA Industry Calendar
To register for all events visit our website at www.chhma.ca or call Pam Winter at (416) 282-0022 ext.21.
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"Eye On Our Industry" is published by the CHHMA as an information resource for our members. Member input regarding content and format is welcomed. Please contact Michael Jorgenson by email: mjorgenson@chhma.ca, or call at (416) 282-0022, ext. 34. CHHMA is located at 1335 Morningside Ave., Suite 101, Scarborough, ON, M1B 5M4 www.chhma.ca