Laura Ashley offers shoppers a place to stay with a new hotel March 29, 2012 ENGLISH fashion and interiors designer Laura Ashley said yesterday it has bought a hotel in Hertfordshire for £5.8m as the company shrugged off tough high street conditions to post a rise in full year sales. “Our plan is to turn it into a Laura Ashley boutique hotel that will showcase our products from fabrics to [...]
Hope for Game as firm poised for rescue deal March 29, 2012 GAME’S administrator PwC could announce a successful bidder for the collapsed video games retailer as early as today, much earlier than expected. Sources close to the company said the retailer’s six lenders led by the state-owned Royal Bank of Scotland were in the lead to buy the company out of administration with a lender-led offer [...]
Crozier gets cosier with ITV and pockets £2.16m in first full year March 29, 2012 ITV’s chief executive Adam Crozier earned a pay package worth almost £2.2m in 2011, his first full year since taking the helm of the broadcaster in April 2010. Crozier received a salary of £798,250, boosted by a £634,082 cash bonus and a further £634,082 worth of stock. His total compensation was boosted to £2.16m by a [...]
H&M PLANS LUXURY LINE AMID RISING COSTS March 29, 2012 FASHION retailer H&M said yesterday that it plans to launch a new luxury line next year as it reported a lower than expected rise in first quarter profits to 2.74bn Swedish kronor (£260m). The fashion giant blamed a 1.2 per cent decline in profit margins on higher commodity costs and greater discounting. The high-street retailer [...]
Moss Bros celebrates return to profit March 29, 2012 Moss Bros yesterday celebrated its first annual profit in four years and reinstated its dividend after a 13 per cent surge in like-for-like sales. The suit and hire specialist, which runs 135 UK stores, made a pre-tax profit of £900,000 compared with a £8.9m loss last year after reducing costs and selling its Cecil Gee [...]
Dairy Crest still under pressure March 29, 2012 Dairy Crest Group said yesterday fourth-quarter trading has been in line with its expectations as its cost-cutting programme was on track, but profit in its key dairies business remained under pressure. The dairies arm, which delivers fresh and flavoured milk to retailers, shops and residential customers, posted a profit of £5.8m on sales of £533.8m [...]
Travelzest revenues fall 14 per cent March 29, 2012 Travelzest yesterday reported a 32 per cent slump in underlying operating profit to £4.2m in 2011, on revenues 14 per cent lower at £37.7m. However, the company, which sells holidays under a variety of brands, saw a record level of total transaction value, up 13 per cent to £246.6m, largely driven by agency growth in [...]
Second quarter brings Imperial back on track March 29, 2012 IMPERIAL Tobacco Group yesterday revealed that sales and growth had bounced back in the second quarter after a less successful first period. Europe’s second biggest tobacco company said net revenues should increase by three per cent in the first half of the year, thanks to improving conditions in Spain, Ukraine and the US. Cigarette volumes [...]
Rank walks out on talks over debt-laden Gala Coral’s casinos March 29, 2012 RANK Group yesterday walked away from plans to buy Gala Coral’s casino business after two months of discussions. Rank, which operates its own casinos and owns Mecca Bingo, said the £250m acquisition “would not serve the best interests of [our] shareholders.” But a spokesperson for Gala insisted the gambling company had not been for sale when [...]
IAG close to winning approval to buy Bmi March 29, 2012 BRITISH Airways owner IAG is set to be given the go-ahead by the EU to buy German group Lufthansa’s British airline Bmi after offering to give up additional airport slots, a person familiar with the matter said yesterday. IAG has reached a deal worth £172.5m to buy its smaller rival and had initially proposed to [...]
