3 mobile takes over shops from 02 and The Link
Mobile phone operator 3 yesterday agreed to buy 95 phone shops - 73 from The Link and 22 from O2. They will be rebranded as 3Stores, helping to take the company's tally of standalone retail outlets from fewer than 10 at the start of the year to a projected 150 by the close of 2006. The deal represents the latest disposal of Link stores since O2 took control of the chain by buying out Dixons owner DSG International three months ago. Mobile operators are increasingly looking to boost their high street presence by owning their own stores as they battle to persuade customers to switch networks.
Chris Tryhorn
Debenhams feels the heat as sales gains melt away
Sales at Debenhams have gone into reverse in recent weeks, hit by the warmest October since records began. In its first full-year results since floating in May, Britain's second-largest department stores group reported a 21% jump in pre-exceptional profits to £267.4m, although at the pre-tax level profits were down from £87.6m to £62.1m. Sales for the 12 months to September 2 rose by 6.6% to £2.19bn. The underlying sales rise at the 132-strong stores chain was 0.5% but that has reversed into a 4.2% fall for the first seven weeks of its new financial year.
Fiona Walsh
Ricardo wins deal with China for car engines
Ricardo, the automotive technology consultant, has signed an agreement with the Chinese motor manufacturer, Lifan, to develop a new family of car engines and transmissions. Ricardo's clients also include Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, which lost the battle to acquire the assets of MG Rover. Yesterday's link-up between Ricardo and Lifan was one of a series of agreements between UK and Chinese companies signed during a visit by a 70-strong Chinese delegation to London. Other deals include a previously announced joint venture with Geely in Shanghai.
Mark Milner
Web video service enlists China's state broadcaster
Software group Autonomy will partner with China's state broadcaster to provide material for its video search service. Cambridge-based Autonomy has brought the broadcaster CCTV into its Chinese joint venture, which allows web users to search for video material according to themes and meaning. It is the largest Chinese language service of its kind and will carry material from CCTV alongside content from other broadcasters and video websites. Autonomy said underlying pre-tax profit more than trebled in the third quarter of the year fuelled by its 2005 purchase of US company Verity.
Chris Tryhorn
Land Registry to publish monthly price index
The Land Registry is to launch a monthly house price index based on its database of property transactions, it said yesterday. The seasonally adjusted data will provide figures at national, regional, county and London borough level. Measuring price changes in repeat sales on the same property will make it the most accurate index, it said. Ted Beardsall of the Land Registry said: "The Land Register provides the most complete set of house price data for England and Wales. Our new index ... will become the authoritative and most accurate reflection of average house price movements in the country."
Ashley Seager