4Cabling acquires e-commerce business OzLighting; May retail sales disappoint: Midday Roundup

Sydney-based cabling company 4Cabling has acquired e-commerce business OzLighting for an undisclosed sum.

4Cabling said in a statement on Thursday the acquisition is “a strategic move to expand the 4Cabling portfolio of businesses”.

“The lighting sector has been looking for someone to provide a consistent experience for both B2C and B2B customers, online and in-store, and there are significant opportunities for both 4Cabling and OzLighting customers to benefit from our collaboration,” said 4Cabling managing director Jonathan Maister in the statement.

4Cabling was founded by entrepreneur Nicole Kersh and sold to family-owned private equity firm Gernis Holdings in September 2014.

4Cabling started life as an online wholesaler in 1996, later moving into the design, manufacture, import and distribution of end-to-end cabling products. The company turns over $10 million annually.

May retail sales disappoint with 0.3% increase

Retail sales grew at a slower than expected pace in May, according to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics today.

Sales did rise in May by 0.3%, although not to the initial expectation for a gain of 0.5%. There was however a 4.4% rise in turnover from May 2015 to May 2014.

States and territories that recorded sales increases include New South Wales (0.3%), Victoria (0.3%), Queensland (0.2%), South Australia (0.3%), the Australian Capital Territory (0.3%) and Tasmania (0.2%). Western Australian was unchanged at 0.0% and sales in the Northern Territory fell in May by 0.1%.

Footwear and personal accessory retailing increased the most (0.8%), followed by household goods and services at 0.3%. Restaurants and takeaway food services sales were relatively unchanged.

Shares to end week in red

Australian shares have taken a tumble this morning, with the market set to end the week in the red.

Market analyst Tristan K’Nell of Quay Equities said in a statement investors were taking a “risk off” approach ahead of a key weekend in the Euro zone.

“Overnight we had Wall Street pull back ahead of U.S markets being closed tonight with Non-Farm Payrolls data coming in slightly below expectations, with 223,000 jobs added to the economy versus 233,000 expected and 254,000 in May, while still healthy maybe adding to the ammunition for the Fed to delay rising rates,” K’Nell said.

“Elsewhere a huge 5.3% fall in iron ore as well as uncertainty of the Greek referendum due for Sunday was enough to see our local investors have a risk off day with plenty of selling across the board.”

The S&P/ASX200 benchmark was down 1.5%, falling 81.2 points to 5518.6 points at 11.54an AEST. On Thursday, the Dow Jones closed down 0.16%, falling 27.8 points to 17730.1 points.