News roundup--Oka, Boohoo, Ocado

Oka Direct, the home interiors brand owned by prime minister David Cameron’s mother-in-law Lady Annabel Astor, has agreed a global licensing deal with LF Products to expand its business into Asia.

Online fashion retailer Boohoo.com has opened up its website to customers in New Zealand, with prices in New Zealand dollars and free shipping. Joint chief executive Carol Kane said the decision to launch a site in New Zealand was part of Boohoo’s “ambitious growth plans” and a need to stay up to date with the “rate in which global ecommerce is changing”. The launch of Boohoo follows data from Neilson NZ that shows the number of online shoppers in New Zealand has reached 1.6 million, 49 percent of the adult population.

Net-a-Porter is recruiting market managers in France and Germany to drive international growth. The luxury-apparel etailer is seeking native French and German speakers to focus on the development of the Net-a-Porter brands in France, Switzerland, Germany and Austria. Responsibilities will include final sign-off on German and French-translated editorial content, excluding product editorial, as well as maintaining the brand positioning and tone of voice across all of Net-a-Porter’s marketing content.

Online grocer Ocado warned that the Olympics are going to have a negative effect on deliveries next month. The company delivered revenues of £308 million in the first half of the year—a rise of 11.4 percent on the same period last year. Profit before tax was flat at £200,000, while operating profit dipped to £1.7 million, from 2.4 million in the first six months of 2011. Chief executive Tim Steiner told the City that it is difficult to forecast performance in the next quarter as “we have already seen some disruption from the Jubilee events, and there is uncertainty as to the effect of the forthcoming Olympic Games”.

In related news, Ocado named Duncan Tatton-Brown as chief financial officer, effective 1st September. Tatton-Brown was previously chief financial officer of Fitness First Group and prior to that held the post of group finance director of B&Q parent Kingfisher plc.