Billabong again down while Prada rockets

Billabong International´s stock lost 2.12 percent on Tuesday

despite the renewed interest from different investors to acquire the ailing fashion retailer. The day earlier, Billabong closed 12 percent below the latest offers, the third-widest gap among similar-sized deals in developed Asia-Pacific nations, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The retailer has opened its books to two groups of suitors with preliminary offers of 527 million Australian dollars million (543 million dollars). Two other buyers abandoned higher proposals last year, leaving the market reluctant to believe a real deal will ever come.

“After all the failed attempts and the lack of confidence in management, there’s no confidence in the due diligence process,” Stan Shamu, market strategist at IG Markets Ltd. in Melbourne, said in a phone interview published by Australian media. “The discount is pricing in the potential for the due diligence process to reveal some cobwebs. A lot of investors aren’t willing to take that risk,” he added.

Meanwhile, the FashionUnited Top 100 Index closed at down on Tuesday, losing 4.12 to 1,406.87 points.

Elsewhere, the Board of Directors of DICK’S Sporting Goods, Inc. (NYSE:DKS) declared a quarterly dividend of 0.125 dollars per share on the Company’s Common Stock and Class B Common Stock, payable on March 29, 2013, to stockholders of record at the close of business on March 8, 2013.

Finally, in a filing to the Hong Kong exchange on Tuesday, Italian luxury leather goods maker Prada reported a 23 percent increase in sales last year at constant exchange rates. Based on preliminary figures, the group said it saw net revenues jump 29 percent to 3.3 billion euros in the year to January.