Category: Appliance Money

A multibillion-pound battle for control of Alliance Boots broke out today as the health and beauty group’s directors accepted a £10.6bn bid – only to see it trumped by a rival consortium offering shareholders an extra £200m. The Alliance Boots board voted to recommend a formal £…

Strong demand for domestic appliances and energy-saving light bulbs helped drive first-quarter operating earnings at Philips, Europe’s largest consumer electronics group, above expectations to €292m (£200m).

Premium kitchen equipment supplier Aga has warmed its investors with the promise of a special dividend, and predicted it would benefit from growing awareness of environmental issues. Aga Foodservice Group, best known for its eponymous cast iron ovens, announced a near 8% increase in pre-tax profi…

Peter Mandelson, EU trade commissioner, has become embroiled in a “fridge war” with electrical goods makers in Europe after he took an eleventh-hour decision not to levy anti-dumping duties on certain Korean imports.

Kesa Electricals, the owner of the Comet chain which turned down a £1.7bn bid approach in March, bolstered its defence against its stalker returning by massively revaluing its property assets yesterday.

PERMIRA and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), two leading private equity groups, are putting together a fresh joint bid for profit-hit Kesa Electricals, owner of the UK’s Comet, The Business has learned.

Vestel, Zorlu Holding’s leading company, is raising its aim for 2006. The white goods giant boasts sales of €2.69 billion along with a growth of 10 percent, and plans to reach a €3 billion turnover in 2006.

Profits at the Comet electrical goods chain crashed more than a fifth last year as sales of fridges, freezers and washing machines collapsed.

Kesa Electricals has rejected a 1.7 billion pound bid approach from a private equity consortium, the retailer said on Tuesday, sending its and rivals’ shares soaring on hopes of more bid interest.

Sanyo Electric, one of Japan’s biggest consumer electronics makers, said on Wednesday it was handing board control to consortium of investors, including Goldman Sachs, as it finalised a Y300bn injection designed to help it counter a crippling debt burden and steep earnings decline.