Retail news round-up on March 30, 2015: Yoox eyes Net-a-Porter.com acquisition, Tesco to sell development sites, eBay to trial ‘click and drop’ at Argos stores and more.
Yoox eyes Net-a-Porter
Italian etailer Yoox has entered the running to acquire luxury fashion business Net-a-Porter after tabling a bid that could value the London-based firm at more than £1.3bn.
Milan-listed Yoox, which operates e-commerce sites for brands such as Armani and is valued at €1.3bn (£950m), is understood to have entered talks for a tie-up.
The Independent reported that Yoox is interested in buying the retailer. It comes after Retail Week reported that online giant Amazon was in talks to acquire Net-a-Porter.
Net-a-Porter is currently owned by luxury goods group Richemont.
Tesco eyes non-core land sell-off to raise funds
Embattled grocer Tesco has hired global real estate services provider Savills to sell off six of its biggest development sites across the UK in a move that will raise hundreds of millions of pounds.
The land for sale, which was once earmarked for new supermarkets, includes the site of a proposed £60m development in Wolverhampton. Others are the Monaco House Complex in Birmingham, land in Burton-on-Trent, a six-acre site near Leeds city centre, a project in Doncaster and part of a retail park in the West Midlands, according to The Telegraph.
The retailer’s management has identified the sale of non-core land as a way of sourcing funds to shore up its battered balance sheet, which has been damaged by a fall in profits and a £263m accounting scandal.
eBay to trial ‘click and drop’ at Argos stores
Online marketplace eBay is unveiling a new ‘click and drop’ scheme that could help sellers cut the cost of delivering items to customers, The Telegraph reported.
The etailer is poised to pilot the service at selected Argos stores, allowing eBay users to drop sold items at their nearest outlet for packing and shipping by eBay. If successful, the trial will be extended to 700 Argos stores.
According to eBay marketplaces vice president Tanya Lawler, the partnerships is a “world first” and “not one that can be easily replicated by other players in the market.”
The first Argos outlets have not yet been chosen, she said, but details will be out within weeks.
Business rates tipped to surge by £1bn a year
Business rates in the UK are forecast to rise by 17% to £32bn over the next five years despite a review announced this month by the Government.
The £4.7billion increase – which amounts to almost £1bn in additional tax each year – will anger those who have fought for an overhaul of the system.
Business rates campaigner Paul Turner-Mitchell told the Daily Mail: “The projected rate of increase drawn up by the OBR is nothing short of alarming. That puts a lot of pressure on this review to arrive somewhere meaningfully different and soon.”
Sports Direct board criticised for failing to curb Ashley’s power
Sports Direct’s board is dysfunctional and does not provide a sufficient check on the powers of the retailer’s founder and executive director Mike Ashley, the Institute of Directors has said.
“The board needs to think about how it becomes more transparent and, from shareholders’ perspective, how it scrutinises decisions,” said Oliver Parry, senior adviser on corporate governance at the IoD.
He added that shareholders should use Sports Direct’s annual meeting in September to “express their concerns” and consider if a change of personnel is required.
PAI Partners eyes bid for Evans Cycles
Cotswold Outdoor owner PAI Partners is understood to be in the final round of bidders for bike retailer Evans Cycles.
The latest stage of the auction process, being run by advisers at Canaccord Genuity, is said to have attracted interest from three other British private equity firms including Equistone, Graphite and ECI, according to The Telegraph.
Sports Direct had previously been linked with acquiring the cycling specialist.
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