As part of a commitment to British manufacturing, luxury brand Mulberry has begun construction of its second UK factory which will create 300 new jobs and open during the summer of 2013. The company revealed today that total revenue was up 6 per cent in the six months to 30th September, with online sales up 44 per cent, to £6.9 million, in the period. Due to increased investment in international retail expansion, however, pretax profits declined 36 per cent to £10 million.
The Communications Workers Union is balloting its Royal Mail members in the New Year with the intention of boycotting competitors’ mail. The plan is not to deliver any mail sent via a company other than Royal Mail. The union is concerned that unfair competition is undermining the sustainability of the universal service.
Group pretax profit at toy retailer Hamleys rose to £2.3 million for the 53 weeks to 31st March on sales of £500 million, reports the Daily Mail. UK and Ireland total sales were up 3.8 per cent on last year.
PPR has agreed to sell its US plus-size apparel business OneStopPlus to Charlesbank Capital Partners and Webster Capital for $525 million. Following last month’s sale of its sports and leisure division to Northern Tool + Equipment, this marks PPR’s divestment of its entire Redcats USA business. PPR stills owns the European Redcats business, comprising La Redoute, Daxons and Vertbaudet.
Otto Group, which owns the Freemans and Grattan mail order brands in the UK, has acquired the rights to the Neckermann.de brand, logo and internet domain in Germany. Neckermann declared insolvency in September.
Following yesterday’s announcement that Claire’s is expanding its retail footprint in Europe, the accessories retailer has announced it is opening a store in Shanghai, China.
Kingfisher plc, the owner of B&Q and Screwfix, has confirmed that group chief executive Euan Sutherland has been appointed a nonexecutive director of apparel retailer/wholesaler SuperGroup plc.
In related news, the Times reports Kingfisher is taking part in a pilot to provide credit for tradesmen, allowing them to bypass banks.
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