TOKYO, Oct 22, 2007 (AFP) - Wal-Mart said Monday it will spend nearly 900 million dollars to wholly acquire struggling subsidiary Seiyu, saying Japan was crucial for the US retailing giant.

Wal-Mart bought a controlling 50.9 percent stake in Seiyu in December 2005 but has failed to salvage Seiyu, which continued to wallow in the red in its latest earnings report released Tuesday.

The world's largest retailer said it will launch a tender offer of 100 billion yen (876.65 million dollars) starting Tuesday to entirely own Seiyu.

TOKYO, Oct 22, 2007 (AFP) - Wal-Mart said Monday it will spend nearly 900 million dollars to wholly acquire struggling subsidiary Seiyu, saying Japan was crucial for the US retailing giant.

Wal-Mart bought a controlling 50.9 percent stake in Seiyu in December 2005 but has failed to rescue Seiyu from wallowing in the red.

The world's largest retailer said it will launch a tender offer of 100 billion yen (876.65 million dollars) starting Tuesday to entirely own Seiyu.

LONDON, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - Retail sales in Britain surged in September, with the annual growth rate hitting the highest level for three years, official data showed on Thursday.

On a 12-month basis, retail sales grew by 6.3 percent in September 2007, compared with the same month the previous year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

That marked the strongest growth rate since September 2004.

The growth came mostly from non-food stores, with clothing and household good shops seeing particularly strong increases.

WASHINGTON, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - US retail sales, a key motor of economic growth, rose a strong 0.6 percent last month as consumers ramped up spending on electronics, automobiles and other goods, a government report showed Friday.

Excluding vehicle sales, the Commerce Department said retail sales rose an improved 0.4 percent in September.

The latest readings on consumer spending defied expectations as most economists were anticipating a tepid 0.2 percent rise in overall sales and a 0.3 percent increase in sales excluding autos.

WASHINGTON, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - US retail sales, a crucial motor of economic growth, rose a stronger-than-expected 0.6 percent last month as American consumers boosted their spending, a government report showed Friday.

Excluding vehicle sales, the Commerce Department said retail sales rose an improved 0.4 percent in September.

Economists had been expecting overall retail sales to rise 0.2 percent in September and sales, excluding autos, to improve 0.3 percent.

TOKYO, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - Japanese supermarket operator Daiei Inc. said Friday its operating profit plunged by almost 80 percent in the six months to August as sales declined amid fierce competition and unfavourable weather.

But net profit more than tripled thanks to a one-time gain from the partial sale of its stake in credit card affiliate OMC Card.

Daiei, which is emerging from years of financial difficulties, posted an operating profit of 5.16 billion yen (44.0 million dollars) for the first half of its business year.

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - The US retail giant Wal-Mart is keen to open stores in Malaysia, a junior minister said Friday, amid a government drive to lure investment and boost economic growth.

'Wal-Mart has shown interest,' deputy trade minister S. Veerasingam told AFP, but he declined to elaborate further amid reports the company had formally applied to enter the Malaysian market.

He added that German company Metro, one of Europe's largest retailers, had applied for permission to set up operations.

AMSTERDAM, Oct 11, 2007 (AFP) - Dutch retailer Ahold announced Thursday that it would sell its US stores Tops Markets to Morgan Stanley Private Equity for 310 million dollars (218 million euros).

Ahold had announced it was trying to sell Tops during a strategic review in November 2006.

Tops operates stores in western New York, mid-state New York and northwestern Pennsylvania. The stores currently employ about 10,000 people in full- and part-time jobs.

TOKYO, Oct 11, 2007 (AFP) - Japan's Fast Retailing, the operator of Uniqlo casual clothing shops, said Thursday its profit slipped in the past year despite its high-profile expansion push overseas.

Fast Retaling Co. Inc. said it cashed in on booming demand from Chinese customers but that its sales slumped at home and were stagnant in the United States and Europe, where it has been opening new stores.

TOKYO, Oct 11, 2007 (AFP) - The operator of Seven-Eleven convenience stores said Thursday that its net profit inched up in the six months to August as it enjoyed growing sales both in Japan and North America.

But Seven & I Holdings Inc., which operates Japan's largest convenience store chain as well as the country's second-largest supermarket operator Ito-Yokado, revised down its full-year forecast due to an accounting change.

TOKYO, Oct 9, 2007 (AFP) - Shopping has replaced culture as the top draw for tourists to Japan as Asian travelers flock to buy electronics products and clothing, an industry survey showed Tuesday.

Japanese have long been big spenders on overseas trips and now their counterparts in other Asian countries are returning the favour, said the study by the private Japan National Tourist Organization.

SHANGHAI, Oct 9, 2007 (AFP) - Retail sales in China during the week-long National Day holiday from October 1 totalled nearly 350 billion yuan (47 billion dollars), up 16 percent from a year earlier, state media said Tuesday.

The growth rate was 1.5 percentage points higher than a year earlier, the China Securities Journal reported, citing figures from the Ministry of Commerce.

China introduced three annual 'Golden Weeks' in 1999, also including the traditional Spring Festival early in the year and the May 1 Labour Day holiday.

DUBLIN, Oct 5, 2007 (AFP) - Irish shops are to be banned from displaying cigarettes and other tobacco products under a further government move to clampdown on smoking, the health ministry said on Friday.

There will also be a ban on all in-store advertising of cigarettes, said Health Minister Mary Harney.

Tighter controls on the location and operation of cigarette vending machines are planned as part of the introduction of laws that have been already passed by parliament but so far not implemented.

PARIS, Oct 4, 2007 (AFP) - The Japanese group Sony is to cut the price in Europe of its new generation video game console PlayStation 3 (PS3) by 100 to 200 euros (141-282 dollars) in order to boost sales ahead of Christmas, a report said here Thursday.

A new model, equipped with a 40 gigaoctet hard drive, will go on sale in Europe at 399 euros, 200 euros less than the current sales price of Sony's more powerful, 60-gigaoctet device, which is already in stores, according to the newspaper Lesotho Echos.

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 3, 2007 (AFP) - Yahoo was tight-lipped Wednesday regarding possible plans to sell France-based Kelkoo, saying only that it is hunting for the 'right leadership' for the shopping price comparison service.

Yahoo told AFP it has made a priority of improving the performance of Kelkoo, which has failed to gain momentum in Europe since the California Internet giant bought in April of 2004 for 450 million euros.

'One of the priorities we have identified is to improve the performance of Kelkoo, our online shopping business,' Yahoo spokesman Brian Mast said.

WASHINGTON, Oct 3, 2007 (AFP) - The world's biggest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., said Wednesday it had won approval from Mexico's government to open banking centers in its Mexican stores.

A spokesman for Wal-Mart de Mexico, Wilfred Castro, said the US retail giant was initially planning to open between 10 and 15 new banking centers in the country.

Wal-Mart said it won approval to operate bank branches from the Mexican Banking Commission on Monday.

Branches of Banco Wal-Mart de Mexico Adelante will be located in existing Wal-Mart stores and retail outlets.

BRUSSELS, Oct 3, 2007 (AFP) - Retailers in the 13 countries sharing the euro saw their sales increase by a disappointing 0.1 percent in August, after 0.4 percent growth the previous month, EU data showed Wednesday.

Over the year to August the retail sales index gained 1.0 percent in the eurozone, the European Union's Eurostat data agency said.

Economists had forecast a month-on-month rise of 0.2 percent.

LONDON, Oct 2, 2007 (AFP) - Tesco, Britain's biggest retailer and which is about to open stores in the US, said Tuesday that interim net profit grew by almost a fifth, boosted by online sales of goods ranging from bananas to beds.

The world's third-biggest supermarket reported an 18.8-percent rise in net profits to 936 million pounds (1.908 billion dollars, 1.345 billion euros) during the first six months of its current financial year.

LONDON, Oct 2, 2007 (AFP) - Tesco, Britain's biggest retailer, reported Tuesday an 18.8-percent rise in net profits to 936 million pounds (1.908 billion dollars, 1.345 billion euros) during the first six months of its current financial year.

Group revenue climbed 9.1 percent to 22.631 billion pounds in the first half ended August 25, compared with the same six-month period in 2006, added the world's third biggest supermarket group in a statement.

FRANKFURT, Sept 28, 2007 (AFP) - German retail sales plummeted in August, official data showed Friday, another sign that a long-awaited contribution to the eurozone's biggest economy was still some way off.

Retail sales fell by 1.4 percent from July, and by 2.2 percent from August 2006, preliminary data from the national statistics office Destatis showed.

Analysts had expected annualised sales to decrease by 1.4 percent, and the figures backed up a survey published Tuesday by the Ifo research institute that showed business sentiment among retailers falling sharply.

FRANKFURT, Sept 28, 2007 (AFP) - German retail sales posted a surprise drop of 1.4 percent in August from the previous month, and shed 2.2 percent from August 2006, preliminary data released Friday by the national statistics office showed.

Analysts had expected annualised sales to decrease by 1.4 percent, and the figures backed up a survey published Tuesday by the Ifo research institute that showed business sentiment among retailers falling sharply.

Almost all categories showed significant drops over the year, and the losses hit both small and large retail outlets.

NEW DELHI, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - Indian giant Reliance Industries has frozen plans to bring a Western-style 'retail revolution' to the nation's biggest state amid bitter opposition from small traders, an official said Wednesday.

Reliance has suspended retail operations and is handing out 'termination notices' to around 1,000 of its 2,800 store employees in Uttar Pradesh state, said the senior company official, who did not wish to be named.

SOWETO, South Africa, Sept 25, 2007 (AFP) - Soweto, the vast township that was synonymous with neglect and revolt during apartheid, will become home to South Africa's largest shopping mall this week when one of the country's original black entrepreneurs fulfills a three-decade long dream.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony at Maponya Mall on Thursday will finally enable residents to shop at highstreet stores such as Toys 'R' Us and Woolworths that had previously been confined to the malls of nearby Johannesburg.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India, Sept 22, 2007 (AFP) - Two shop-owners and five policemen were injured when a protest against big retail stores turned violent in southern India on Saturday, police said.

Some 100 shopkeepers demonstrated in the city of Kozhikode in Kerala state to protest at the opening of dozens of Western-style air-conditioned supermarkets, which they say threaten their business.

LONDON, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) - Playboy continued its evolution from adult magazine to international merchandising brand by opening its first store in Europe Friday at the heart of London's shopping district.

But customers expecting an erotic extravaganza of shop assistants parading in Playboy's trademark bunny ears, bow ties and not much else might be disappointed -- the store's focus is fashion and homewares, not titillation.

WASHINGTON, Sept 20, 2007 (AFP) - The housing crisis and credit crunch will crimp US holiday spending this year, a retailers' association warned Thursday.

The National Retail Federation predicted sales will rise 4.0 percent in 2007 year to 474.5 billion dollars.

That would be well below the 10-year average of 4.8 percent growth and represent the slowest holiday sales growth since 2002, when sales rose 1.3 percent.

LONDON, Sept 20, 2007 (AFP) - The British competition watchdog accused British supermarkets and dairies on Thursday of colluding to fix prices, resulting in customers being overcharged 270 million pounds (386 million euros, 542 million dollars) for dairy products.

The Office of Fair Trading said it had provisionally found that a price-fixing agreement was in place between 2002-2003, with supermarket giants Asda, Morrisons, Safeway, Sainsbury's and Tesco involved.

LONDON, Sept 20, 2007 (AFP) - Kingfisher, the biggest home-improvements retailer in Europe, said Thursday that its interim net profit fell and warned of a 'tough' outlook at its B & Q stores in Britain.

Net profits slid 5.3 percent to 159.6 million pounds (228.4 million euros, 320.8 million dollars) in the 26 weeks to August 4, 2007, compared with 168.5 million pounds in the same period of 2006, the group said.

Kingfisher, which also owns the Castorama and Brico Depot stores in France, added that sales soared 9.8 percent to 4.775 billion pounds.

LONDON, Sept 20, 2007 (AFP) - British supermarket group J Sainsbury said Thursday it would open its books to takeover suitor and Qatari investment fund Delta Two.

The Qatari group had bid 10.6 billion pounds (15.7 billion euros, 21.7 billion dollars) last July for Britain's third-biggest supermarket operator.

'The board of Sainsbury's has unanimously agreed that Delta Two may undertake a limited period of confirmatory due diligence on the Company in order to progress its proposal,' the two groups said in a joint statement.

LONDON, Sept 20, 2007 (AFP) - Retail sales in Britain rose strongly in August, helped by strong sales of food, official data showed on Thursday.

Retail sales rose by 0.6 percent in August from July, when they had advanced by 0.7 percent, the Office for National Statistics said.

The growth came mostly in sales of food, which rose by 1.3 percent in August, the biggest gain since June 2006. There were also large gains to sales of clothing and other non-food items.

FRANKFURT, Sept 20, 2007 (AFP) - Metro, the leading German retail and distribution company and the third biggest worldwide, said Thursday that former Mercedes chief Eckhard Cordes had been nominated as its new chief executive.

Cordes is to replace Hans-Joachim Koerber, who has asked to be relieved of his duties from October 31.

The retailer, which posted sales last year of 60 billion euros (84 billion dollars), did not say when its supervisory board would meet to vote on the appointment.

FRANKFURT, Sept 20, 2007 (AFP) - Metro, the leading German retail and distribution company and the third biggest worldwide, said Thursday that Eckhard Cordes had been nominated as its new chief executive.

He is to replace Hans-Joachim Koerber, who has asked to be relieved of his duties from October 31.

The retailer, which posted sales last year of 60 billion euros (84 billion dollars), did not say when its supervisory board would meet to vote on the appointment.

SYDNEY, Sept 19, 2007 (AFP) - Australia's second largest retailer Coles Group posted a 35.7 percent fall in annual net profit Wednesday and declined to provide any outlook for the current year as it prepares to be taken over.

The retailer, which has backed a takeover bid by conglomerate Wesfarmers, said profit for the year to July was 747.8 million dollars (620 million US), down from 1.16 billion in the previous year.

The result reflected poor performances in Coles' food and liquor division, with supermarket and alcohol earnings down 9.5 percent to 693.3 million.

LONDON, Sept 17, 2007 (AFP) - Richard Branson on Monday sold his Virgin Megastores record shops in Britain and Ireland, shedding the brand which launched his Virgin empire.

The British tycoon said high street music retailing was facing a stiff challenge from supermarket and online sales.

Virgin Group sold Virgin Megastores in Britain and Ireland for an undisclosed sum to a management buy-out team.

The deal creates Britain and Ireland's largest independent entertainment retailer and the 125 stores will now be rebranded as Zavvi after Zavvi Entertainment Group.

PARIS, Sept 17, 2007 (AFP) - France's biggest mail order company said Monday it had stopped sales of a necklace after dozens of its Christian customers complained that is was blasphemous.

The small jewel, representing a crowned skeleton and stamped with the brand name Corpus Christi, was added to La Redoute's fashion catalogue in July.

'We decided to withdraw the pendant on Friday, after several dozen customers contacted our call centre to voice their upset about the name given to the jewel,' said a spokesman for La Redoute.