News roundup--Ethical Superstore, John Lewis, more

Ethical Superstore, the online seller of all-things eco-friendly, is set to announce its maiden profit in the year to July 2010. NE Business reports that the Gateshead-based online retailer recorded sales of £4.3 million this year—up from £2.9 million in 2009.

John Lewis is expect to announce that profits at the department store chain are back to prerecession levels, reports the Guardian. John Lewis’s half-year results, to be released on 16th September, are tipped to show profits returning to 2008 levels—“after crashing 50 percent to just £20m last year”. The rise is attributed to a healthy performance in the store’s homewares department.

After reporting that HMV may sell off its bookstore chain Waterstone’s, the Guardian now writes that the chain’s founder Tim Waterstone may buy it back. Waterstone sold the business to stationer WHSmith in the early 1990s, which in turn sold it to HMV in 1998 for £300 million.

DVD rental business LoveFilm welcomed Kristian Segerstrale, chief executive of social-networking games developer Playfish, and Roland Steindorf, formerly chief executive of Kabel Deutschland, to its board as nonexecutive directors. According to the Telegraph, the business is seriously considering floating on the stock exchange, “which could value [LoveFilm] at more than £200 million”.

New to the stock exchange, Ocado will release its third-quarter results to the City this week. The Telegraph speculates about the figures.

Peter Nyssen, Spalding Plant & Bulb, Sarah Raven’s Kitchen & Garden, Bloms Bulbs, J Parker, and Avon Bulbs feature in a Daily Mail article titled Leaf through the best bulb catalogues: We put six to the test.

Nicolas Berggruen’s bid for collapsed German department store Karstadt was successful. The Wall Street Journal reports that the deal will see Karstadt’s new owners inject €70 million (£58 million) into the company.