• Cotswold Company seeks creditors’ support in sale plan

The Cotswold Company Ltd., which was founded by Ian Vaughan and Andrew Shapin in 1996 and commenced trading a year later, has fallen into serious trading difficulties. Vaughan stepped down from the position of managing director back in 2004 when the business raised additional equity to cover its trading losses. Shapin, who has since served as managing director, has now made proposals for a Company Voluntary Arrangement in an attempt to achieve a sale of the share capital of the business to an as yet un-named public group. With creditor approval this would see Cotswold’s suppliers, who are owed a combined total of more than £5.5 million, each receive approximately 25p in the £1.

• Redcats is fined

The FSA has fined Redcats (Brands) Ltd £270,000 for failing to treat its customers fairly when selling Payment Protection Insurance. The breaches involved the sale of PPI over an eighteen month period to 160,100 customers when it might not have been suitable for their individual needs.

• Online Christmas sales skyrocket for Tesco

Tesco is claiming that its online sales in the four weeks to Christmas rose by more than 30 per cent over those achieved for the same period in 2005. It processed orders from 1.3 million shoppers for groceries and gifts and also stated that its catalogue shopping service enjoyed strong sales.

• Adams on the block

Children’s wear retail chain Adams is seeking a buyer following pressures from its bankers. Adams, which is backed by Bridgepoint Capital and Lloyds TSB Development Capital, is understood to be attracting interest from bidders and it is being muted that a sale price of £30 million could be achieved.

• Postage rate hike confirmed

Royal Mail is to increase the cost of 1st class mail for standard letters weighing up to 100g by 2p to 34p in April. Second class rates and those for large letters and packets in both service standards are also affected.

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