MORNING MEETING: German business for AO World
JOHN ROBERTS, founder of AO World, is exactly the kind of sparky entrepreneur this country needs.
The 40-year-old left school at 17 and has become a multi-millionaire thanks to the success of the business he started for a £1 bet.
Cookers, fridges, washers and TVs have been flying off its warehouse shelves, sending sales and profits soaring.
The UK business is humming along nicely and has expanded into Germany but the shares have blown a fuse since their electrifying debut on the stock market in February.
Listed at 285p, valuing the company at £1.2billion, they hit 378p on day one only to fall to 154p last month.
Now they are back at 217¼p, giving a value of £910million.
Roberts should not take the blame for the share price performance. He and his colleagues have delivered on their promises, growing the UK business and expanding into Europe.
It is the bankers and brokers who over?hyped the float and over-priced the shares.
Another example of how opinion within the Bank of England is divided.
Newcomer Kristin Forbes, the former White House adviser who joined in July and sits on the rate-setting committee, yesterday said she did not think the global economic outlook was as gloomy as some of her colleagues believed.
She also told a parliamentary committee she saw signs that UK wages may have turned a corner. In contrast governor Mark Carney took a more gloomy view, pointing to the deteriorating conditions in the eurozone and Japan.
Outgoing Kingfisher chief executive Sir Ian Cheshire hands over to his successor, Frenchwoman Veronique Laury, on December 8.
He has done a great DIY job at the group with no help from the economy at home or abroad.
But as he says au revoir, Laury will no doubt be saying quelle horreur as the eurozone woes start to turn the screws on its operations in France.
