eBay files US lawsuit against Amazon
The online marketplace eBay has announced that it has filed a US lawsuit against Amazon for attempting to poach its customers. It described the breach as an “orchestrated, coordinated, worldwide campaign” aiming to “illegally lure eBay sellers to sell on Amazon”.
According to the lawsuit, representatives from Amazon registered for an account with its competitor for the purpose of persuading other users to switch. Indeed, the company has accused the Amazon representatives of sending private messages to its users in order to convince them to sell their items on Amazon instead. According to the company, this use of its internal messaging system violated its user agreement.
This legal complaint follows a warning to Amazon earlier in October. The company had investigated and revealed that roughly 50 Amazon workers had sent over 1,000 messages to its regular users. The eBay users were told to abandon the marketplace and sell on Amazon instead. The letter called Amazon’s actions a “troubling scheme” and demanded Amazon put an end to its attempts to poach its merchants.
Kleenex set to rebrand “Mansize” tissues
Kleenex has revealed that it will be rebranding its “Mansize” tissues. This is following criticism from customers and feminist campaigners alike regarding its sexism. A release date is yet to be confirmed.
The “Mansize” tissues have been around for 60 years, but they will now be rebranded as “Extra Large”. The news was announced on social media following customer backlash towards the original branding.
Despite the rebrand, Kleenex owner Kimberley-Clark has defended the original branding, insisting it did not “endorse gender inequality”.
One customer, Lisa Hancox, took to Twitter to share: “Hi @KleenexUK. My four-year-old son asked me what was written here. Then he asked, why are they called Mansize? Can girls, boys & mummies use them?… He suggests you should call them ‘very large tissues’. It is 2018.” However, the news has not been well received amongst all customers. Some have even ridiculed the rebrand on social media, insisting that it was not necessary. The Chief executive of feminist group The Fawcett, Sam Smethers, told Sky News: “Kleenex’s re-branding matters because throughout marketing and advertising, we use lazy gender stereotypes to sell products and convey messages which reinforce those stereotypes.” “For example, strength for men and weakness for women or we find women’s bodies used and objectified.” “I use ‘man-sized’ tissues all the time – it just means I have a bad cold!” A spokesman for Kimberly-Clark told The Telegraph: “It was launched at a time when large cotton handkerchiefs were still very popular and Kleenex offered a unique disposable alternative. Despite that our consumer service is registering consistent increase of complaints on gender concern related to Mansize subbrand.” “Kimberly-Clark in no way suggests that being both soft and strong is an exclusively masculine trait, nor do we believe that the Mansize branding suggests or endorses gender inequality. Our Mansize tissues remain one of our most popular products, with 3.4 million people buying these tissues every year.” “Nevertheless, as we remain committed to developing the best possible products for our consumers and take any feedback extremely seriously, we decided to renovate our current product and update the product subbrand as Kleenex Extra Large.”New Look pull plug on China, closing 120 stores
New Look has announced plans to close the 120 stores in China, exiting the country.
The fashion retailer said that due to poor profits and sales, it would no longer be investing in the country.
“Despite substantial investments in China in recent years, performance has been below expectations and this business has not achieved the necessary sales and profitability to support the significant future investment required to continue these operations,” said New Look in a statement.
The 120 stores will be closed by December. The chain will also review its other international markets in Poland, France and Belgium.
Alistair McGeorge, who is the executive chairman, “Having reviewed the trading performance of our business and the substantial investment required to continue operations in the market, we have made the difficult decision to exit our stores in China.”
“Our priority will be to support all affected staff during this time. As our turnaround plans continue, we remain focused on ensuring that New Look is well positioned to drive strong business performance and profitable growth.”
New Look is facing difficult trading conditions in the UK. The retailer secured creditors’ backing to close scores of its UK outlets earlier this year.
In June, the retailer reported a plunge in like-for-like sales by 11.7% in the financial year ending in March, and website sales fell 19%.
“Last year was undoubtedly very difficult for New Look, with a well-documented combination of external and self-inflicted issues impacting our performance,” said McGeorge.
“We still have more work to do to restore long-term profitability, but I am confident we are now better placed to achieve this than we were when I returned to the business over six months ago.”
New Look is not alone. Mothercare (LON: MTC) and Carpetright (LON: CPR) are just two names among the many other among the companies that have used CVAs in the past year.
National Express report rise in profits after “strong summer”
National Express has reported a rise in group revenue and profit.
The group reported a rise in pre-tax profit by 18.3% compared to the same period last year.
Revenue was up by 9.5% in the third quarter in the UK.
The group’s Spanish brand also performed well, with revenue increasing by 15% and passenger numbers up 5.7%.
National Express said that they saw a “strong summer” and “outstanding organic growth” was seen in the coach business.
“We had a good summer’s trading, with our UK coach business in particular delivering outstanding organic growth. Group revenue and profit are up strongly and we are carrying more passengers. We expect this momentum to continue in our traditionally quieter fourth quarter,” said Dean Finch, the group’s chief executive.
“With Spanish concession renewals further delayed, a major contract starting during 2019 in Rabat and encouraging pricing trends in North America, our outlook is positive. Our continued focus on cashflow and operational performance should allow us to continue to grow profit in the years ahead,” he added.
The coach business brought in £5 million in revenue for every week in August.
The company is planning a bus contract in Rabat mid-next year, making it Morocco’s largest transport operator.
Shares in the group are up 3.69% at 410,80 (0940GMT).
Cobalt airline suspends all operations
The budget airline Cobalt has announced that it is cancelling all flights from Wednesday.
In a statement on their website, the airline said it is suspending all operations indefinitely.
“Future flights or services provided by Cobalt will be cancelled and will no longer operate,” the statement read.
“Passengers who have un-flown tickets are instructed not to go to [Cyprus’s] Larnaca airport or any departure airport tomorrow, October 18, as no Cobalt flights will operate and no Cobalt staff will be present.”
The airline flies to 23 destinations, including Heathrow, Stansted, Gatwick and Manchester.
Heathrow has said it will provide assistance to passengers who arrive at the airport on Wednesday.
The Cypriot Transport Minister, Vassiliki Anastassiadou, has said that the government plans to pay for return tickets to help travellers get back to where they started.
The Cypriot airline has 200 employees, the fate of which is unclear.
Primera Air collapsed earlier this month after 14 years operating.
An estimated 60,000 affected by Primera’s collapse.
Theresa May suggests extension of transition period
Theresa May has hinted that she is willing to extend the Brexit transition period.
The prime minister suggested a longer transition period to EU leaders on Wednesday, in order to break the deadlock in negotiations.
European Parliament President Antonio Tajani said: “It was mentioned – both sides mentioned the idea of an extension of a transition period as one possibility that is on the table and would be looked into.”
“Theresa May during her speech said it’s possible to achieve an agreement also on a transition period, but not with a clear position on the timing,” he added.
Extending the transition period will mean that the UK is likely to add additional budget contributions to the EU on top of the current £39 billion divorce bill.
Eurosceptic Conservative backbenchers have rejected the idea of extending the transition period because it will mean that the UK will still have to abide to EU rules and pay into the budget whilst having no say over how the money is spent.
The Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, said that an extended transition period would increase uncertainty for business.
“Everyone I talk to now – business leaders, investors, trade union leaders all of them are saying the uncertainty and the insecurity at the moment means decisions are not being taken about long-term investment,” he said.
Nigel Farage said that the extension period “may mean we never leave at all”.
“The problem isn’t Brexit, the problem is the prime minister,” he said.
In further news, a source has said that there will be no special Brexit summit in November due to sufficient progress already being made.
“The EU27 leaders stand ready to convene a European council, if and when the union negotiator reports that decisive progress has been made. For now, EU27 is not planning to organise an extraordinary summit on Brexit in November,” said the source.
Ladbible takes over Unilad, saving 200 jobs
After going into administration last month, viral news website Unilad has been bought by rival LadBible.
Owner of Unilad, Bentley Harrington, collapsed with £6.5 million worth of debts including the £1.5 million it owed to the HMRC.
The website employs over 200 employees at the editorial office based in Manchester. LadBible has said that it will keep the businesses separate and there will be no job losses.
“As of today, LadBible Group and Unilad Group are now united under the same roof. This transforms the media landscape worldwide,” said LadBibe in a statement.
“Bringing these brands together makes us the largest social video publisher ever, and a youth media brand to be reckoned with, having over 120 million followers across our social channels. In August alone, our combined videos were viewed 4.5 billion times.”
The amount that was paid for UniLad has not been disclosed.
Both companies are the two biggest publishers on Facebook including the platforms BBC, CNN and the New York Times.
Andrew Poxon and Andrew Duncan, of Leonard Curtis Business Rescue and Recovery, who were the join administrators said in a statement that they had “identified a purchaser and worked with those concerned to deliver a positive outcome for all stakeholders”.
Barratt Developments forward sales up 12.4%
Residential property company Barratt Developments Plc (LON:BDEV) has reported an impressive start to the new fiscal year, with a 12.4% jump in on-year forward sales – this comes alongside strong activity by other players in the property development market.
The jump comes as the sales for the year just gone were up to £3.15 billion, a jump from £2.8 billion the year before.
While these figures are encouraging, net reservations per outlet have dipped from 0.74 to 0.72 per active outlet per week for the period between July and August. Similarly, the number of on-year new developments have dropped by 9 to 53, and the number of active outlets has dipped from 371 to 365.
Despite this, Barratt remain confident in delivering strong growth and operating performance for fiscal 2019, with targets reportedly set at between 3-5% volume growth per annum.
‘The group has started the new financial year in a strong position, with a good sales rate, healthy forward order book and customer demand supported by an attractive lending environment,’ said David Thomas, Chief Executive.
‘We are focused on delivering our medium term targets set out at our Full Year results, whilst maintaining our commitment to leading the industry in the design and quality of our homes and in customer service, which we believe is fundamental to our ongoing success.’
The firm’s shares are currently trading down 0.58% or 3p since trading began on Wednesday morning, at 511p. Analysts from Peel Hunt have reiterated their ‘Buy’ stance on Barratt stock, while Shore Capital analysts have reiterated their ‘Hold’ stance.
Segro rental income soars 43%
Property investor and developer Segro Plc (LON:SGRO) have seen their shares rally amid reports of an impressive nine months in 2018 – sharing the fate of their counterparts in the property development sector.
The firm’s rental collection reached ‘headline’ rates – meaning that “annualised gross passing rent receivable, once incentives such as rent-free periods had expired”. The company have thus far collected £52 million within the first three quarters, which represents a 43% on-year jump. Further, Segro’s vacancy rates have grown from 4.8% to 5.2%, largely due to completion of speculative developments during the quarter.
The company said it had completed 219,000 square metres of developments, with the potential to generate £10.6 million in headline rent, £8.5 million of which has already been leased.
“Segro’s business has continued to perform well in the third quarter of 2018,” said chief executive David Sleath.
“Ongoing favourable occupier market conditions have enabled us to achieve another strong leasing performance for both new and existing space.”
“In line with our disciplined approach to capital allocation, we have exchanged or completed disposals totalling over £200 million during the period at a significant premium to book value, taking advantage of strong investor demand and a limited supply of prime, well-located assets.”
“The structural trends of e-commerce and urbanisation continue to underpin occupier and investor demand for prime warehouse space, notwithstanding near-term economic and political uncertainty in the UK.”
The firm’s shares are currently trading up 16p or 2.62% at 625.8p. Liberum Capital, Peel Hunt and JP Morgan Cazenove analysts have reiterated their ‘Buy’, ‘Hold’ and ‘Underweight’ stances on Segro stock respectively.
Mediclinic shares fall on profit warning
Shares in Mediclinic (LON:MDC) fell on Wednesday, after the company issued a trading update on its interim results.
The firm, which specialises in providing private healthcare, warned of weaker-than-expeceted performance in Switzerland.
The South African company said it expects to report a 2% increase in sales for the first half the year to September-end, alongside a 4% decline in adjusted profits.
Commenting today, Dr Ronnie van der Merwe, CEO, said:
“Trading in the first half of the year experienced the customary seasonality in Switzerland and the Middle East. In the Middle East, we delivered a gradual improvement in revenue and margin expansion ahead of the anticipated stronger growth in the second half of the year. In Switzerland, the business continues to adapt to recent regulatory changes in the outpatient environment, which in the period had a greater than expected impact on admissions and the insurance mix.”
“In Southern Africa, margins were maintained on lower volumes due to weakness in the second quarter from fewer pneumonia and bronchitis related cases during the winter.
He added: “For the full year, our performance in Southern Africa remains in line with guidance. In the Middle East, full year EBITDA delivery remains on track with revenue growth lower than previously expected. In Switzerland, we now expect to deliver modest revenue growth in the full year including contribution from Clinique des Grangettes, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of around 16%.”
Alongside locations in Switzerland, the firm operates in South Africa, Namibia, and the United Arab Emirates.
As well as the South African Securities Exchange (JSE), Mediclinic is also listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE-250 Index.
As of currently, the company also holds a 29.9% stake in Spire Healthcare, a UK-based private healthcare provider.
Shares in Mediclinic are currently trading -17.53% as of 12.52AM (GMT).
Elsewhere across the markets, online clothing retailer Asos shares (LON:ASC) rallied on Wednesday on boosted profits.
Conversely, shares in low-cost airline Flybe fell during early morning trading, after the company warned on profits.