Four Australian retail services consultancies have announced a merger into a new consultancy Business Development Company (BDC) 

Department store David Jones has increased its first half sales by 2.3 per cent and sharply raised its interim and second half profit guidance. The upmarket department store chain reported sales revenue for the six months to January 23 of $1.087 billion, up from $1.062 billi...

The announcement by Federal Competition Minister, Craig Emerson, that Aldi, Franklins, SPAR, Foodworks and Metcash have agreed not to enter into new shopping centre leases with restrictive clauses is just more window dressing by the Federal Government, writes Frank Zumbo.  A...

Spectrum Analysis has appointed Tom Fonay to its team.  Fonay joins Spectrum following five years at Gloria Jean's Coffees as regional retail leasing manager (VIC, SA, TAS) and development team leader.He has an intimate knowledge of shopping cen...

Small businesses will have to raise their prices to recoup higher energy costs under an emissions trading scheme (ETS), the federal government says. The opposition on Monday highlighted the case of a dry-cleaning business in Queanbeyan, near Canbe...

The Australian dollar opened slightly higher on Tuesday as currencies remain in narrow ranges in subdued trade. At 0700 AEDT, the Australian dollar was trading at $US0.8667/71, up from Monday's close of $US0.8664/66. From 1700 AEDT on Monday, t...

Gloria Jean’s Coffees, has opened its first coffee house in Lebanon.  The market opening in Beirut’s Hamra district takes Gloria Jean’s Coffees International’s global presence to 917 coffee houses across 38 master franchi...

The Warehouse Group is considering a bond offer of up to $NZ100 million ($A79.27 million).  The Warehouse on Tuesday said it intended using proceeds from the offer for general corporate purposes.Those purposes may include redeeming existing debt...

Wesfarmers has established a management committee to ensure co-ordination between retail divisions Kmart and Target on strategic issues and other matters.  The diversified conglomerate said the committee would be chaired by Target MD Launa Inman...

The online payments service PayPal has taken the unusual step of suspending many transactions in India for more than a week.A spokesman for the service said Saturday that "personal payments" to and from India are being blocked. Transfers to banks in India are being suspended as well.The spokesman, Anuj Nayar, said PayPal is taking the step while it...

More supermarket retailers have promised the competition watchdog to end a practice which stops rival chains from opening in the same shopping centre.  Aldi, Franklins, SPAR Australia, Australian United Retailers and Metcash have agreed with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) that they won't enter into any new leasing ag...

Loved up couples are expected to spend up big this Valentine's Day on everything from chocolate, jewellery and weekends away, following a lull in 2009 Valentine's spending.This February 14 IbisWorld predicts spending will rise 2.7 per cent to $867.3 million, compared with a meager 0.5 per cent rise in spending between 2008 and 2009. Robert Bryant, ...