Luxury fashion brand Burberry Group PLC (LON:BRBY) has rejected several takeover from US handbag maker Coach Inc (NYSE:COH) according to reports over the weekend.
Had the iconic British brand have accepted an offer, it would’ve created a luxury goods company worth around US$20bn.
It’s not clear what figure Coach had put forward during the informal offers, but the Financial Times claimed any bid would’ve involved both cash and shares.
This isn’t the first time the two companies have been rumoured to be considering a tie-up, with sources back in October suggesting a deal was a distinct possibility.
Although neither party has commented on the speculation so far, shares in Burberry were up almost 2% on Monday afternoon as investors switched on to the idea that Coach may be willing to pay a premium price for the business.
Plastic Christmas
Around a third of British adults will use some form of credit to pay their way through the holiday season this year, a new study has found.
When asked whether they are borrowing to pay for Christmas this year, 33% of respondents to the National Debtline survey answered yes.
One in five are planning to stick Christmas food on their card, while 10% of those asked said they get stressed about their finances in the run-up to the holidays.
More than £190bn is now owed on credit cards, loans and overdrafts in the UK, topped up by the £2bn shoppers put on their cards in last month’s Black Friday sales.
All I want for Christmas is extra credit
— jay❗️ (@JayleneCardenas) December 5, 2016
New car sales continue to rev
Sales of new cars accelerated by 2.9% year-on-year in November as the Great British public seemed to shrug off any fears about Brexit.
A total of 184,000 new cars were registered last month, taking the total foe the year to over 2.5mln – a 2.5% increase compared to the same period of 2015.
Given that car sales have never exceeded 2.5mln by November ever before, the annual record of 2.63mln is well in sight.
The bulk of the new registrations are down to the increasingly-popular hire and fleet purchases, with the private buyers’ market continuing to weaken.
Fortnum & Mason to raise prices in 2017
Upmarket British retailer Fortnum & Mason hailed its “strong” performance post-Brexit but said it will up its prices in 2017 anyway.
The privately-held group reported a 27% rise in profits for the year, but claimed rising costs associated with currency inflations meant that price inflation was inevitable.
“Retailers are nervous about the role of inflation, it definitely poses a threat and absolutely, prices will rise next year, there's no avoiding it. We won't be alone,” said chief executive Ewan Venters.
“Although our suppliers might be UK based, when you look at the ingredients mix, the packaging mix, it's sourced from all over the world, so we can't get away from currency movements.”
Today’s news comes weeks after Unilever and Tesco were embroiled in a public spat after the former tried to raise the wholesale prices of its products by 10%.