News roundup--Thorntons, Aquascutum, North Face, more

In a trading statement released today, confectionery retailer Thorntons confirmed that sales declined 2.7 percent to £62.4 million in the 16 weeks to 28th April as a result of its store closure programme. Excluding the closures, sales were broadly flat on this time last year. The silver lining in the statement came from Thorntons’ direct division, where sales rose 2.2 percent to £2.5 million in the period, buoyed by a successful Easter.

YGM Trading, the Hong Kong based company that owns the licence for the Aquascutum brand in Asia has entered into exclusive talks with Aquascutum’s administrators to negotiate an acquisition of the business and its assets.

Marking its first step into direct sales in the UK and Ireland, Wonderbra has launched a transactional website on the Venda platform. The new site, wonderbra.eu, replaces a nontransactional brochure site wonderbra.co.uk. The store carries the brand’s full range of products and a “Get Inspired” section of the site which hosts video content and includes social-media sharing functions. In addition, the site also includes a stockist finder to allow consumers to locate products on their local high street or through other online retailers.

The North Face has been slapped with a £2.8 million fine by the Fair Trade Commission as a result of price fixing. The Telegraph writes that North Face denies all charges made against it and is considering an appeal.

John Lewis has added PayPal as a payment method on its UK and international website johnlewis.com, as well as on the mobile-optimised version of the site.

Next has added Joules to its range of designers online. On sale is a range of men's and women's gilets, wellies and rugby shirts as well as women's summer dresses, shorts, polo shirts and more. By shopping through Next, Joules fans can have their order delivered the next day if ordered online before 9pm.

Lord Wolfson the chief executive of Next has sold £3.8 million worth of shares to pay towards his wedding and new house, reports the Telegraph.

Computer giant IBM is to acquire digital analytics software provider Tealeaf for an undisclosed sum.