Flying Brands, the multibrand cataloguer whose
titles include Gardening Direct and
Flying Flowers, has acquired Flowers
Direct out of administration. It paid £2.95 million
for Flowers Direct’s website, its relay network of 750 florists,
and its customer database of 300,000 records. As part of the deal
Flowers Direct’s relay and ecommerce teams will be joining Flying
Brands. In the financial year to 31st March, Flowers Direct made
a loss of £500,000 on sales of £6 million.
In related news, a third-party has agreed to invest £150,000
in Flying Brands in return for 200,000 new shares at 75p
each.
Direct sales at Marks & Spencer were up 27
percent to £413 million in the 53 weeks ended 3rd April.
International sales also grew, by 5.7 percent, and now account
for 10.2 percent of total group revenues. Operating profit in the
international division was up 16.5 percent to £135.3
million. Overall, group sales rose 3.2 percent to £9.3
billion with adjusted pretax profit up 4.6 percent to £632.5
million.
Orchira pearl jewellery, which recently
rebranded from BoBijou, is expanding into the USA. The company,
which sells wholesale through retailers and via TV-shopping
channels such as Ideal World as well as through its catalogue and
website, has signed a deal with New York-based fine-jewellery
manufacturer Kuber. The partnership sees Orchira
create 700 designs to distribute to more than 3,000 jewellers and
department stores that Kuber currently supplies to in the US and
the Caribbean.
Share