Boohoo splashes £80m on social media celebrities as sales soar. Boohoo.com (BOO) spent about £80m on celebrity endorsements and other marketing costs – equivalent to almost 10% of its sales – last year as the online fashion retailer continued to target the Instagram generation to drive sales. The retailer, which sells low-cost own-brand clothing, beat analyst expectations by posting a 48% jump in sales to £857m for the year to February, while pre-tax profits surged 38% to £60m. The fast fashion retailer’s PrettyLittleThing and Nasty Gal brands enjoyed explosive growth with sales rising 107% and 96% respectively, boosted by endorsements with models Ashley Graham and Hailey Baldwin and sponsorship of the E! entertainment channel.
Gold miners declare turnaround success after difficult year. Gold miners Centamin (DI) (CEY) and Petropavlovsk (POG) have declared themselves on the turnaround trail after reporting a strong start to the year. Centamin, which operates the only major mine in Egypt, delivered gold production that was above forecasts in the first three months of the year, having changed some of its processes and moved into a part of its underground workings with a richer seam. Boss Andrew Pardey admitted 2018 had been a “disappointing year” after Centamin ran into a number of operational challenges.
Andy Briggs leaves Aviva (AV.) after missing out on top job. Andy Briggs, the head of Aviva’s UK insurance business, is stepping down after losing out on the top job to the group’s new chief executive Maurice Tulloch. Despite leaving that role immediately, he will remain with the business until Oct 23 to support an “orderly transition”. Mr Briggs joined Aviva’s board in 2015 following the insurer’s acquisition of Friends Life, where he was chief executive. While analysts said it was not surprising to see Mr Briggs depart after his involvement in the search for a new chief executive, they said it was too early to predict where he might go next. An Aviva spokesman said Mr Briggs would be prohibited from taking up a new role until after October.
UK bosses drawn in to BT Italy accounting scandal. Bosses at BT Group (BT.A) London headquarters were more closely involved in an accounting scandal embroiling the company’s Italian unit than it previously admitted, investigators have alleged. Emails seized by police reportedly show Brian More O’Ferrall, then chief financial officer of BT Europe, encouraging executives in the Italian division to find ways of adjusting their accounts to boost profits by hundreds of thousands of euros.
Pay quadruples to £4m for Fever-Tree boss. The 44-year-old boss of Fevertree Drinks (FEVR) is celebrating his pay packet quadrupling after growth for the upmarket tonic water maker continued to defy expectations. Tim Warrilow’s pay jumped from £842,000 in 2017 to almost £4m last year after receiving a £3m boost from the first payment of a three-year long-term incentive plan. The drinks company’s record sales growth meant the executives exceeded all of their bonus targets. Mr Warrilow also owns 5.4m shares in the company, worth £167m, although co-founder Charles Rolls has a bigger 7pc stake worth £254m. Andrew Branchflower, finance chief, also enjoyed a jump in pay from £540,000 to £1.9m.
Ferrexpo warns funds paid to charity may have been ‘misappropriated’. Ferrexpo (FXPO) has warned that funds it paid to a charity in Ukraine could have been “misappropriated”, as it reported a dip in profits last year. The FTSE 250 iron ore miner hired BDO earlier this year to probe “discrepancies” in the bank statements of Blooming Land, a charity it set up in 2013 to further its corporate social responsibility goals. The ongoing investigation had made “progress” in gathering explanations as to the irregularities, Ferrexpo said, but added: “There are indications that some funds could have been misappropriated.”
Trafford Centre owner Intu Properties (INTU) hit a new record low after City analysts revealed that the shopping centre owner and rival Hammerson (HMSO) are the most exposed to the UK’s high street crisis. UBS found that around 20% of the total shopping centre floorspace in the UK is rented to retailers that since 2012 have been in administration, have entered a compulsory voluntary arrangement (CVA) or in their last annual results suffered a slide in sales. Hammerson and Intu slumped to annual losses in 2018 after the value of their properties were slashed. Analysts at UBS found that Hammerson and Intu’s malls are most likely to be occupied by ailing retailers.
Questor: this stock has been a disaster. We must admit to our mistake and sell. Questor share tip: we had high hopes for Indivior (INDV) and its new treatment for opioid addiction but the US government wants to fine it $3bn and its survival is now in doubt