Home shopping and education supplies business
Findel will undergo a rights issue and placing
with the aim of raising £80.5 million in order to
restructure its balance sheet. It has also entered an agreement
with its lenders regarding new credit facilities.
In a statement accompanying the announcement, Findel said that
sales in its home-shopping division during the first-half of the
year declined 1.7 percent. In the Express Gifts
division, the adverse weather in December and resulting mail
backlog in January led to a 4.3 percent drop in sales.
Kleeneze‘s sales in December were 9 percent
lower than the previous year. The educational supplies business
also suffered from the poor weather, with sales for the last 17
weeks of 2010 down 11 percent. The healthcare division, however,
traded ahead of the prior year.
Secret-sales website BrandAlley has unveiled Le
Lab, a platform for designers to create a profile and showcase
their pieces on the BrandAlley site. In turn, BrandAlley
customers decide which designs they want made and sold on the
site.
Luxury-apparel etailer Net-a-Porter has launched
a digital TV station on its website. The station-currently
comprising four channels: Runway, Who’s Who, Trends 101 and
Flashbacks-allows customers to shop their favourite designers and
engage with interactive video content. Using a platform built by
Brightcove, users can share, like, embed and comment on all
videos.
Net-a-Porter TV is available on all mobile devices and the iPad.
In the US, the station claims to be the first fashion commerce
site to be available on Google-TV enabled TVs, Blu-Ray players
and set-top boxes. A global launch across all of these platforms
is in the pipeline.
The John Lewis Partnership Pensions Trust has
sold its remaining shares in online grocer
Ocado. The sale does not affect Ocado’s
relationship with John Lewis-owned Waitrose,
with which it has a 10 year supply agreement.
Share