A “difficult year” at Flying Brands
saw 2010 end with a sales and profits dip at the multititle
cataloguer. Group revenue from continuing business for the 52
weeks ending 31st December 2010 was £28.0 million, compared
to £29.4 million in 2009. Group pretax profit from
continuing operations slid from £2.39 million in 2009 to
£220,000 last year.
The company suffered a disappointed peak season in 2010 and was
hit hard by the bad weather during the Christmas period. What’s
more, in a statement, chairman Tim Trotter said trading for 2011
had “got off to a mixed start”. Flowers
Direct and Flying Flowers continue to
trade below expectations. Trading in Garden Bird
Supplies has also been “disappointing” so
far this year.
Gardening Direct and the recently acquired
Garden Centre Online are trading in line with
expectations.
Multichannel retailer Next has been served with
a tax bill totalling approximately £6 million after a VAT
tribunal found it was unable to claim VAT back on catalogues it
was given its customers for free. Accountancy Age reports that a Next may
consider appealing the decision.
Total sales at Argos declined 3.5 percent to
£4.19 billion in the year to 26th February. Sister company
Homebase fared slightly better–sales were
£1.55 billion, just 0.3 percent behind on a like-for-like
basis. As a result of this, parent company Home Retail
Group expects pretax profit for the full year to be
between £250 million and £255 million, down from its
January forecast of £263 million.
Apparel brand Lyle and Scott is to launch a
social-media commerce store enabling customers to shop through
Facebook. The application, developed by BT Fresca, follows Lyle
and Scott’s recently relaunched mobile-optimised website.
Following its acquisition of Kiddicare last
month, supermarket Morrisons has made a £32
million investment in US online grocer
FreshDirect. The deal sees Morrisons take a 10
percent stake in the New York-based business as well as seat on
its board. This investment, coupled with the Kiddicare
acquisition, marks Morrisons’ first steps into developing its UK
ecommerce offering.
In related news, a new report by food and grocery analyst IGD
found that 27 percent of good and grocery manufacturers would
consider building their own online stores to “engage
directly with shoppers online”. Further, 43 percent said
they expect 10 percent of total revenue to be generated from the
online channel in four year’s time. The report estimates that the
value of online grocery will double by 2015, reaching sales of
£9.9 billion.
Office products dealer Integra Office Solutions
has announced a website for its Initiative brand. The website
allows visitors to see the product range and provides information
on the nearest stockist.
Share