WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
FINANCIAL TIMES
AMAZON SEEKS TO EXPAND GLOBALLY
Amazon says it plans to revamp its international e-commerce platform to make it easier for the company to reach customers in new markets. The online retailer, the world’s largest by number of visitors, operates online businesses in six countries outside the US. It says it has set up a new team that will create “the architectural underpinnings to greatly simplify country expansions”, by translating content into different languages and adjusting taxes, prices and delivery options to better suit customers’ locations.
TNK-BP TO UNVEIL OIL TRADING OPERATION
TNK-BP, the Russian oil and gas group half-owned by BP, is setting up an international trading arm in the latest sign of the company’s ambitious growth plans overseas.
PROPHOTONIX DELAYS AIM MOVE
ProPhotonix, a specialist in light-emitting diode light engines, is expected today to postpone its flotation on Aim for the third time since it began trying to raise up to £6m in the summer. The company, which is now not expected to come to market until the end of January, has also halved its target fundraising to £3m.
PORSCHE SEEKS BACKING FOR RIGHTS ISSUE
Porsche is hoping for shareholder approval tomorrow for the launch of a €5bn (£4.2bn) rights issue aimed at cutting the German sports car maker’s high debt ahead of a planned merger with Volkswagen next year. Industry insiders and some analysts expect preference shareholders to approve the rights issue, in spite of a voting threshold of 75 per cent and opposition from a number of smaller German institutional investors. This month, Porsche’s preference share price enjoyed a rapid rise.
THE TIMES
TRAIN BOSSES LINED UP TO OWN TRACK AND STATIONS AS WELL
Commuters into London from Essex and East Anglia and train passengers in Liverpool could be the guinea pigs in a radical break-up and part-privatisation of Network Rail. The Department for Transport is set to consider reforms that could promote the “vertical integration” of parts of the network, allowing train operators
to own the tracks and stations they use.
FANCY A HOME IN A PRETTY LITTLE MARKET TOWN? IT WILL COST YOU £30,000 EXTRA
People wanting to live in England’s smaller market towns are having to pay £29,319 extra to buy a home, despite nationwide falls in house prices. Research published today by Lloyds TSB shows that houses in market towns cost an average £231,163.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
FASHION MOGUL KEVIN STANFORD IS HAUNTED BY GHOST
Kevin Stanford, the owner of the All Saints clothing chain, has been forced to shell out £2.5m of his own fortune, after personally guaranteeing a bank loan to his failed fashion brand Ghost.
He formerly owned 50 per cent of Ghost, which had 32 shops across the UK and went into administration two years ago, owing £5m to VB Investment Bank.
FORMER CBS CHIEF JOINS PEEP SHOW MAKER ALL3MEDIA
Nancy Tellem, who was head of the CBS Network Television Entertainment Group for five years until 2009, has been appointed All3Media’s US non-executive board member. She is All3Media’s second high-profile hiring to its burgeoning international operation in recent months.
Wayne Garvie, formerly head of content and production at BC Worldwide, will join the firm as managing director of international content and production early next year.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
COTY NEARS DEAL TO ACQUIRE NAIL-POLISH MAKER OPI
Coty Inc., one of the world’s largest fragrance companies, is close to an agreement to acquire nail-polish maker OPI Products Inc. for about $1 bn, people familiar with the matter said. Talks were continuing yesterday, and a deal could be announced as early as today, these people said. But the negotiations could still fall apart, they added.
J&J SUFFERS ANOTHER MANUFACTURING BLOW
The US Food and Drug Administration cited a Johnson & Johnson drug manufacturing plant in Puerto Rico for various deficiencies. FDA officials found that J&J failed to follow quality-control procedures, and released into the market drug products that should have been rejected for quality violations.