News roundup--Flying Brands, Shop Direct, Moonpig, Neckermann, more

Multibrand home shopping company Flying Brands has announced plans to sell all its retail divisions and refocus as a Jersey-based growing and live-despatch business, supplying live plants and shrubs to retailers. In order to reduce central overheads and “slim down” the business, Flying Brands has announced the closure of its Chelmsford head office and outsourcing its remaining contact centre operations to Prolog from early June.

Shop Direct is cutting up to 50 jobs in its buying and merchandising division, reports the Mail’s This is Money column.

Job losses are also expected at Guernsey-based greetings-card business Moonpig following the scrapping of VAT relief for the Channel Islands. According to the BBC, the majority of the business will stay on the island.

German cataloguer Neckermann has announced it is moving purely online. The restructure will see the company shed some 1,380 jobs as it shifts away from being a print-based seller to relying on ecommerce, where it makes 80 percent of its sales. The move means it will no longer need its order fulfilment site in Frankfurt and is seeking to renegotiate its lease on the building. Its landlord Segro said rent was paid up until today.

Figleaves is poised to make its maiden profit, reports the Sunday Times.

Lovehoney, one of the UK’s leading online sex toy retailers, is the subject of a Channel 4 show called “More Sex Please We're British”. The programme,  which airs on Tuesday, 8th May, is a fly-on-the-wall documentary following the team behind Lovehoney including owners Neal Slateford and Richard Longhurst, ecommerce manager Matthew Curry and the company’s customer services and returns department.

Hobbs is being prepared for a sale by its private equity owner 3i. A deal could value the retailer at £250 million, reports the Telegraph.

Germany-headquartered Spreadshirt, which specialises in customised printing online, has delivered a 43 percent year-on-year revenue growth, reaching €45.8 million in 2011 compared with €32 million the previous year. To keep up with global demand for customised clothing and accessories, Spreadshirt has announced it will open a second North American factory in Las Vegas later this year.

Educational supplies supplier TTS Group, cosmetics brand Ren and footwear retailer Duo have all been named as recipients of the The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise: International Trade 2012. Other retail brands on the list include Regatta, Electrocomponents and Hackett.

Johnnie Boden is richer than the Queen, according to the Sunday Times Rich List 2012. He’s placed at number 255 with a personal fortune of £320 million; £10 million more than HRH the Queen. Seventy-three people on the list made their money in retailing, including Sir Philip Green and his wife, who own Arcadia at number 17, Mohamed al-Fayed and family at number 54, H&M founders Karl-Johan and Thomas Persson at number 112, Lord Sainsbury at number 158, Lord Alliance of N Brown Group at number 278; Nick Wheeler and Chrissie Rucker of Charles Tyrwhitt and The White Company are placed at number 428 with a combined £175 million , while Asos’s chief executive Nick Robertson is worth £155 million and ranked at number 482.

House of Fraser says Kevin Stanford, who holds a 10 percent stake in parent company Highland, is not welcome on the board, reports the Guardian.

The Independent writes that Jessops’ main lender HSBC has engaged with advisers to explore its options for the chain over the next year.

“No takers for Clinton cards” is the headline in this morning’s Scotsman as it emerges that the business failed to secure a buyer.