News roundup--Fat Face, Sainsbury's, Joseph Turner, more

Fat Face demonstrated resilient growth in 2012, with sales up 7 percent to £163.6 million in the year ended 2nd June. Earnings were flat at £24.1 million. Fat Face chief executive Anthony Thompson said a strategy to cut down on discounting while introducing better quality product ranges will stand the business in good stead for the future.

Straight plc, which specialises in supplying recycling containers to local authorities and consumers, has confirmed redundancies and issued a profits warning as it works to realign the manufacturing capability of the factory it acquired in 2010 with sales demand. Group sales increased in the first half of 2012 by approximately 11 percent to £16.7 million. This increase in sales was assisted by strong performance from the garden and hardware sector. Net debt at the end of June stood at £3.2 million, a reduction from £4.1 million at the end of December 2011.

Following Tesco’s investment in Blinkbox, Sainsbury’s has launched a rival video on-demand service. Powered by the Rovi Entertainment Store, Sainsbury's will provide customers access to a library of film and TV entertainment. The service will initially be available online at Sainsbury's Entertainment and then expand to offer access through a range of internet-connected devices including Smart TVs, Blu-ray players, smartphones and game consoles.

Yorkshire-based menswear cataloguer Joseph Turner is launching its first-ever womenswear catalogue this month. The fabrics for the 72-piece collection have been largely sourced from British mills and manufacturers.

Sporting goods retailer JD Sports is selling its rugby brand Canterbury to Pentland for £22.7 million. It has also agreed to acquire OneTrueSaxon from Pentland for £50,000.

Preowned fashion website Vestiaire Collective has appointed Shannon Edwards to lead the firms UK business. She joins as managing director, five months after the France-based retailer set up shop in the UK. Edwards joins from fashion portal ShopStyle Europe where she was vice president and managing director for Europe.

Retailers may soon be required by law to provide customers with electronic transactional data on their purchase when they request it. According to the Telegraph, consumers currently have the legal right to request such information via the Data Protection Act, but the process is “long-winded and the information rarely comes in electronic form”. The BBC has more on the story.

Forbes takes a look inside the Ikea augmented reality app.