Aurora Fashions, the owner of apparel chains
Oasis and Coast, is to spin off
Karen Millen and establish it as an independent
company.
The move could see Aurora eventually sell Karen Millen, which
operates in 40 countries and currently has global sales of some
£250 million–60 percent of which are made outside of the
UK. Derek Lovelock, chairman of Aurora Fashions, will become
executive chairman of Karen Millen supported by joint managing
directors Gemma Metheringham and Steve Price. Among the first
tasks for the independent business is opening stores in Paris,
Sydney, St Petersburg and Berlin later this spring.
Following a strong Christmas and January, jeweller Argent
of London reported a robust performance for February,
with a year-on-year sales increase of 18.8 percent. Online sales
grew 36 percent during the period, while third-party wholesale
volumes during the month almost doubled. The business is gearing
up to relaunch its website later this month having developed its
social-media channels in order to better engage with
customers.
Support is gathering in the House of Lords to close a loophole
allowing companies based in the Channel Islands to sell goods
worth less than £18 free of VAT. The Guardian reports that the low-value
consignment relief cost the UK £130 million in lost tax
revenues last year. It uses struggling HMV as an
example of how the “internet VAT dodge” has hurt UK
companies, but fails to mention that HMV fulfils online orders
costing less than £18 from Guernsey.
Online retail in Europe and in the US will experience
double-digit growth over the next five years, predicts Forrester.
According to its latest forecast, online retail will grow at a 10
percent compound annual rate reaching $279 billion (£171.4
billion) in the US and €134 billion (£113.6 billion)
in Europe in 2015. The figure contradicts previously released
statistics from the
Centre of Retail Research, which found that European online
sales are outpacing the US.
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