News roundup--Tobar acquired by management, sales down at Flying Brands, more

Tobar has been acquired out of administration in a management buyout supported by current investor Primary Capital. The deal includes eight remaining Hawkin’s Bazaar stores, all the stock, trading names, wholesale, and online businesses. Primary originally invested in the business in 2006, in a deal valued at £42 million.

Overall sales at Flying Brands were down 24.9 percent in the final quarter compared with the same period in 2010. The group, which operates mail order brands Gardening Direct and Flying Flowers, delivered sales of £4.83 million compared to £6.43 million the previous year. The majority of sales were generated by the flower division, but due to a decision to cut back on marketing spend, sales declined 24.9 percent, from £4.47 million to £3.29 million. The silver lining was that through a combination of higher margins, lower marketing costs and an improved refunds and replacements performance, Flying Brands expects contribution to be “significantly ahead” of last year and broadly in line expectations. Sales from the rest of the group were also in line with expectations, except at bird-food title Garden Bird Supplies, where sales were affected by the mild weather and slumped almost 30 percent from £910,000 to £640,000 during the period.

The Mail has an article on the next step in loyalty schemes: “behavioural pricing”. It mulls whether this will mean consumers will be charged more for products they have “liked” on their social networks, and whether prices in future will be “tweaked” to suit the individual.

Kitchenware cataloguer/retailer Lakeland has launched a mobile-optimised website developed by consultancy and systems integrator Javelin Group.

Sainsbury’s has appointed former Heineken UK marketing director Sarah Warby as marketing director. Her remit includes full responsibility for all Sainsbury’s marketing activity across brand communications, nonfood marketing, customer insights and loyalty.