• Net sales increased 17.4% to $1,543.7 million compared to $1,314.9 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2017; • Comparable sales (sales for stores open at least 14 months and e-commerce sales) increased 8.1% compared to an increase of 14.3% in the first quarter of fiscal 2017. The 8.1% comparable sales increase was driven by 5.1% transaction growth and 3.0% growth in average ticket; • Retail comparable sales increased 4.7%, including salon comparable sales growth of 3.2%; • Net income increased 28.2% to $164.4 million compared to $128.2 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2017. Click Read More below for additional information.

Tom Kingsbury, Kohl’s chief executive officer, said, “We have taken significant action to reposition Kohl’s for future growth. However, our efforts have yet to fully yield the intended outcome due in part to a continued challenging consumer environment and softness in our core business.

When this year’s Pulitzer Prize winners were announced at Columbia University in New York on Monday, the honorees once again included authors on the Penguin Random House roster, continuing a fine tradition for the Bertelsmann book division. Since the award was first presented in 1917, a total of 143 Penguin Random House authors have won the famous prize. This time, the recipients are Percival Everett, Jason Roberts, and Kathleen DuVal who were honored in the “Fiction,” “Biography,” and “History” categories, respectively. The Pulitzer Prize jury cited Percival Everett’s novel “James,” published by Doubleday, as “an accomplished reconsideration of Huckleberry Finn that gives agency to Jim to illustrate the absurdity of racial supremacy and provide a new take on the search for family and freedom.” “Every Living Thing: The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life” by Jason Roberts (Random House) was described as “a beautifully written double biography of Carl Linnaeus and Georges-Louis de Buffon.” And the nonfiction book “Native Nations” by Kathleen Duval was praised by the judges as “a vivid and accessible account” of Native American nations and communities over a thousand years.