Sales up, profit down at Laura Ashley
Sales at cataloguer/retailer Laura Ashley for the first half of the year rose 6.3 percent, to £127.8 million. But pretax profit tumbled 76.5 percent, from £4.7 million to £1.1 million due to a £5.5 million loss on foreign currency. Although catalogue sales fell 26.9 percent, web sales climbed 36.1 percent.

Theo Fennell in the red
Jeweller Theo Fennell posted a pretax loss of £3.3 million for the most recent fiscal year, a turnaround from the previous year’s profit of £1.4 million. Sales declined 22.4 percent during the same period, from £28.1 million to £21.8 million. 

Book Depository sales climb 52%
Etailer The Book Depository grew its annual sales by 51.7 percent, to £61.5 million for the year ended June. Fun fact from the company’s press release: “If all of the books that The Book Depository shipped in the last year were placed in a line they would amount to more than 250,000 double-decker buses.”

Aquatic supplier in administration
Britain’s Aquatic Superstore, a wholesale distributor of fish and reptile supplies, has fallen into administration. Administrator KPMG intends to keep the business, which includes a catalogue as well as a retail store, operating while it seeks a buyer.

John Lewis focuses on Value
John Lewis is launching a lower-price Value range of housewares, priced to compete against the similar ranges of Tesco, Asda, and other supermarkets. It will also roll out a new marketing campaign next month clarifying its “Never Knowingly Undersold” slogan.

Disappointing increase for August direct sales
Like-for-like August retail sales slid 0.1 percent from last year, according to the British Retail Consortium. Although catalogue and web sales were up 7.9 percent, it was the weakest year-on-year increase since May.

ECMOD2009 conference – have you booked your place?
This year's world-class multi-track conference has adopted the theme “Driving Profitability” and features over 60 top speakers from the US and UK. The conference covers all the burning issues, latest developments, new strategies and techniques for driving profitability in b2b and b2c enterprises. Download the full conference programme here. Don’t miss out!

The latest companies who have signed up to exhibit are Etail Fulfilment Services, Photolink Creative, Royal Mail and Shine Marketing UK. These join a raft of specialist suppliers getting ready to wow ECMOD visitors and delegates. Exciting new features for 2009 include the International Boulevard, Catalogue Exchange Village, and a custom built Deluxe Theatre which will accommodate free seminars. Companies interested in exhibiting should call Jill on 01271 866112 without delay to avoid disappointment.

Follow us on Twitter for the latest updates: twitter.com/ecmodshow. Visiting the exhibition is entirely free of charge and you can register to do so now and be kept abreast of all the special deals exhibitors are offering during the show.

The August Catalogue Log
The dog days of summer made their presence felt in the Catalogue Log inbox. In August we logged in just 71 catalogues, less than half of the number (149) tallied in July. Even so, there was no shortage of promotions and offers. For our analysis of the mailings received last month, visit Catablogue e-business at catalog-biz.blogspot.com.

Coming up in Catalogue e-business

• October issue: special focus on marketing 2.0—mobile, social media, video, and more
• November issue: special focus on forecasting and merchandising PLUS a review of postal and carrier options