Hamleys profits leap as French owner plots further expansion December 6, 2012 HAMLEYS, the country’s most famous toy shop recently snapped up by its larger French rival, yesterday posted bumper sales and profits in the year to March as it continues to keep its little customers happy. Ludendo, the family-owned toy group, bought Hamleys from the failed Icelandic bank Landsbanki for £60m in September. The group, under [...]
Super Sunday sees eBay visits from mobile devices double December 6, 2012 VISITS to eBay through mobile devices almost doubled to three million last Sunday as shoppers started their festive shopping spree, data out yesterday showed. The surge on Sunday 2 December – dubbed Super Sunday – marked one of the busiest days for the site and helped drive purchases on eBay in the UK to 25 [...]
Cineworld sees Picturehouse as just the ticket December 6, 2012 MOVIE THEATRE giant Cineworld yesterday announced a £47.3m deal to buy Picturehouse, Britain’s biggest independent cinema operator. The acquisition will further consolidate the UK’s cinema landscape, giving the country’s three biggest operators – Cineworld, Vue and Odeon – more than two-thirds of the market. Cineworld said it would continue to run Picturehouse as a separate [...]
Question Time studio in Big Fat Gypsy deal December 6, 2012 THE TV production company behind the BBC’s political debate show Question Time has bought the studio that makes Channel 4’s Big Fat Gypsy Weddings reality programme. Tinopolis, which is owned by London private equity firm Vitruvian Partners, announced the acquisition of Firecracker Films yesterday. The price of the deal was not disclosed, but industry insiders [...]
Euro instability hits Micro Focus but profits hold December 6, 2012 WEAKNESS in Spain, Italy and Japan put a dent in global IT firm Micro Focus in the first half of its financial year, although performance was not as bad as expected, with higher-margin contracts boosting the company. Micro Focus, which provides mainframe software for most of the FTSE 100, saw a 5.4 per cent year-on-year [...]
Revenue flat at PZ Cussons with Nigeria still causing a headache December 6, 2012 PZ CUSSONS, the maker of Imperial Leather soaps, said yesterday it expected to report a higher first-half profit, but was concerned about business in its key Nigerian market. The soap and shampoo maker said profit was likely to be about 10 per cent higher, thanks to an improvement in the profitability of its Australian business [...]
DS Smith results prove benefits of acquisition of rival SCA unit December 6, 2012 CORRUGATED cardboard packager DS Smith boosted its first half profits by 62.5 per cent, helped by its acquisition of rival SCA Packaging, it said yesterday. The company, which snapped up SCA earlier this year for €1.6bn (£1.3bn), said the buy had helped increase first half revenues to £1.67bn up from £1bn. This sent pre-tax profit [...]
London-listed Kiwi firm Endace shares rocket on takeover offer December 6, 2012 ENDACE, a New Zealand-based network equipment tester listed in London, saw its shares rise by almost 60 per cent yesterday on the back of an £80.7m bid from storage equipment firm Emulex yesterday. The offer represented a 65 per cent premium to Endace’s closing price on Wednesday evening. Endace’s board announced the offer yesterday and recommended [...]
Spotify pays $500m to artists as it announces subscriber rise December 6, 2012 SPOTIFY, the popular music streaming service, has paid out more than $500m (£312m) to artists since it launched four years ago, the company’s founder Daniel Ek said yesterday. The service, which has been criticised by some artists for paying tiny royalties, has paid out half of that money in the last nine months, as Spotify [...]
Premier Farnell deflated by slipping sales in UK and Europe December 6, 2012 PREMIER Farnell, which distributes electronic parts to engineers, disappointed yesterday with lower third quarter adjusted pre-tax profits versus last year. The FTSE 250 listed firm, which sells products like batteries and IT parts to customers, said the 18 per cent fall in adjusted pre-tax profit to £17.3m was due to lower revenues from the UK [...]
