Business news in brief
No plans to buy out fashion brand, says CEO
The founder of Superdry said he has no plans to take the fashion brand private following reports he was considering the move. Julian Dunkerton founded the retail business in 1985 and owns a 23.9 per cent stake in the company. Shares in the company have dropped by around 40 per cent over the past year. Last week, Superdry saw its stock drop after it cut its profit outlook for the year after suffering a hit from shipping delays.
The group said revenues in its wholesale business slumped by more than 57 per cent in the nine weeks to 31 December due to
post-Covid lags in dispatching items. It led the retailer to downgrade its expected adjusted pre-tax profits to broadly breakeven, from previously estimating that profits would hit between £10m and £20m. Yesterday, shares in the business moved 5.7 per cent higher to 124.5p after Mr Dunkerton’s statement. The company is valued at roughly £102m.
Shanghai flights relaunched by Virgin Atlantic
Virgin Atlantic has announced it will restart flights between London Heathrow and Shanghai on 1 May, ending a two-and-ahalf-year suspension. The airline has not operated flights on the route since December 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. It said it will resume operations following a relaxation of China’s travel restrictions, with borders reopened to foreign nationals for the first time since 2020. Heathrow-Shanghai is Virgin Atlantic’s final route to be reinstated after pandemic-related suspensions. The airline said it will double the capacity on its Tel Aviv service this summer, and open new routes to the Maldives and Turks and Caicos later this year.
BT sees revenues fall in ‘tough’ trading conditions
Telecoms group BT has reported a drop in its third-quarter revenues as it flagged “tough” market conditions in its consumer-facing business. The group saw turnover fall 3 per cent to £5.2bn in the three months to 31 December as it took a blow from the loss of income from BT Sport, which it has offloaded into a joint venture with Disney. Consumer revenues dropped 6 per cent to £2.4bn, but underlying earnings in the division lifted 7 per cent to £669m amid recent price rises, a surge in new fibre broadband customers and action to cut costs. Consumer revenues lifted 2 per cent in the first nine months so far of BT’s financial year and group-wide sales rose by £65m.
The figures come after BT recently warned over further job cuts and price hikes as it upped its cost-cutting target by £500m to
£3bn by the end of 2024-25 in the face of soaring inflation and an uncertain wider economy.
City regulator proposes ban on debt package referral fees
The City regulator is to press ahead with proposals to ban debt packager firms from receiving referral fees from debt solution providers, following further analysis of the market. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) initially consulted on a ban after identifying a lack of adequate management of the conflict of interest between giving advice in the customer’s best interests and recommending an option that makes the firms more money.
Debt packagers are regulated providers of debt advice, who refer people to debt solution providers. These firms earn money from referral fees paid by solution providers, which can be far higher when consumers are referred to an insolvency practitioner for an individual voluntary arrangement or protected trust deed, than a government scheme such as a debt relief order, the FCA said.
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