Markets speak French: Hermés & PPR, rising stars

Burberry was in the limelight yesterday amid market talk

it could be the target of a bid from luxury goods giant PPR. The shares closed up 5p at 1312p, despite PPR ruling out any takeover on the grounds that it was not looking for a large acquisition. PPR shares fell 80 cents, or 0.7 percent, to 116.60 euros, giving the company a market value of 14.8 billion euros. Burberry rose as much as 3.7 percent and traded 1 percent higher at 1,320 pence in London.

The FashionUnited Top 100 Index closed in red again Wednesday, slightly lower than the previous day: 1,287. UK shop-price inflation slowed in May to its weakest pace this year as retailers offered more discounts to tempt shoppers, the British Retail Consortium said.
Prices charged by retailers rose 2.3 percent from a year ago after advancing 2.5 percent in April, the BRC said in an e- mailed statement in London on Wednesday. On the month, prices rose 0.1 percent after increasing 0.3 percent in April.

UK retail sales fell in May from a year earlier as rising prices and concern about their finances unnerved consumers, the BRC said on Tuesday, while a separate report on Wednesday showed employment growth slowed. The Bank of England will keep its benchmark interest rate at a record low of 0.5 percent tomorrow to support the recovery, according to all 55 economists in a Bloomberg News survey

British data are aligned with German retail sales that rose 0.6 percent from March, when they fell 2.7 percent, yesterday´s report showed. Spanish sales advanced 0.8 percent and French sales increased 1.4 percent. In Ireland, retail sales dropped 0.5 percent from March. The statistics office didn't provide figures for Greece.

Italian labels are performing quite well as well, not only in terms of cash generation but in the Stock Exchange. Prada SpA, the Italian luxury-goods company planning to sell shares in an initial public offering, on June 3 forecast growth of at least 46 percent in first-half profit. French rival Hermes International SCA last month reiterated its full-year target after beating analysts' first-quarter sales forecast.

French luxury group PPR announced Wednesday that its previously announced tender offer to acquire all the outstanding shares of common stock of Volcom, Inc. for $24.50 per share in cash has been extended to allow additional time to obtain necessary foreign antitrust approvals and will now expire at 5:30 p.m., New York City time, on Thursday, June 16, 2011, unless further extended. All other terms and conditions of the offer remain unchanged, assured the company in a clients ‘note.

The transaction is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including receipt of the remaining applicable regulatory approvals. As previously announced on May 24, 2011, the parties received notification of early termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act. As of 4:00 p.m., New York City time, on June 7, 2011, a total of approximately 8,868,132 shares of Volcom common stock (including 4,014,184 shares tendered through notices of guaranteed delivery) had validly been tendered into and not withdrawn from the offer.

 Finally, Hugo Boss, which is controlled by Permira Advisers LLP, rose as much as 2.6 percent and traded 1.1 percent higher at 61.97 euros.