Fashion group LVMH slows down October 15, 2013 LVMH, the world’s biggest luxury group, yesterday posted an unexpected slowdown in sales growth at its fashion and leather business, which includes the Louis Vuitton, Celine and Dior brands. The Paris-based group said growth at its biggest division was four per cent on a like-for-like basis in the nine months to 30 September, against five [...]
UK advertising spend dropping in line with EU October 15, 2013 TELEVISION ratings firm Nielsen said yesterday that advertisers have shunned the UK during the first half of 2013 as overall European advertising spending declined six per cent. Spending across UK media fell by 2.3 per cent, according to Nielsen’s data. But there were signs of a European recovery with ad spending in Norway, Switzerland, and [...]
WANdisco’s bookings doubled last quarter October 15, 2013 BRITISH software firm WANdisco yesterday said bookings growth was 120 per cent in its third quarter ending 30 September. The $4.4m (£2.7m) of bookings have been driven by a number of new multi-year subscriptions to WANdisco’s services and the renewal of all of its existing customer subscriptions. “We are pleased to report, once again, very [...]
Betfair suitor lowers stake October 15, 2013 RICHARD Koch, the businessman who gave up on an attempt to take over Betfair in May, yesterday sold around 1m shares in the firm to take his stake down to just 2.77 per cent. Koch, who held six per cent as recently as August, had teamed up with CVC and Antony Ball of investment group [...]
Amazon bulks permanent UK staff October 15, 2013 Amazon will take on 800 new permanent staff in the run up to the holiday period, alongside the 15,000 hires it will take on a temporary basis. The new staff will take on a new shift pattern as the online retail giant moves its fulfilment centre staff from five-day to four-day working weeks.
Gender divide remains in marketing October 15, 2013 Men control the highest positions in marketing, despite 75 per cent of marketers being female, according to research from recruitment marketing specialist EMR. The firm explains the likely reason for career progression slowdown is due to women having children and the responsibilities of childcare. The greatest gap is between the ages of 30 and 49, [...]
Axa and Norges to lend to property October 15, 2013 The property arm of French insurer Axa has joined forces with Norway’s largest sovereign wealth fund to provide debt to the property sector, as firms look to fill the void left by the decline in bank financing. Axa Real Estate Investment Managers and Norges Bank Investment Management’s joint venture will target senior loans of up [...]
Telford Homes fully sold for the year October 15, 2013 Telford Homes, the east London residential developer, said that it had already sold all of its expected homes for the current year and 70 per cent for next year due to improving economic confidence and rising mortgage availability. Chief exec Jon Di-Stefano said that 101 of the 132 flats at its Horizons scheme in Canary [...]
Omnicom beats forecasts as its merger nears October 15, 2013 OMNICOM Group, the largest US advertising company, reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit as ad spending strengthened in its home market, reinforcing expectations of strong growth for the industry in the second half. The firm also said its $35.1bn (£22bn) merger with French-based Publicis is on track to close early next year, chief executive John Wren [...]
WPP buys Chinese advertising firm as it chases growth targets October 15, 2013 ADVERTISING giant WPP has bought Chinese media agency IM2.0, it announced yesterday, as the group pushes towards its target of 40 per cent gains in fast-growth markets. IM2.0, which was established in 2008 and counts Dell, Adidas and China Merchant Bank among its clients, had revenues last year of over 72m yuan (£7.4m). IM2.0 employs [...]