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Michael Kors designs a successful IPO

Written on December 17, 2011 – 10:03 am | by Michael Harris

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Michael Kors understands what fashion-conscious shoppers desire. Apparently, he knows what investors want, too.

The designers company, Michael Kors Holdings Ltd., raised $944 million after selling 47.2 million shares in its initial public stock offering Wednesday night, valuing the company at $3.8 billion. It had planned to sell about 42 million shares for between $17 and $19. But like demand for some of Kors designs, investors clamored for more and that helped push the price to $20 per share.

The success of the Michael Kors IPO is a testament to the resilience of the well-heeled set which has continued spending through tough economic times, and the companys strategy of producing a diverse array of items, so that its not overly focused on individual product categories in case one of them falls out of fashion. More broadly, the IPO defies what has been an otherwise weak year for companies looking to raise money through new offerings of stock. F

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Tags: Kors, Michael Kors

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Sony gears up for PlayStation Vita’s Japan launch

Written on December 12, 2011 – 4:56 am | by Stephanie Brodribb

Sony gears up for PlayStation Vita’s Japan launch TOKYO (AP) — Sony’s long-awaited PlayStation Vita portable game machine hits stores in Japan on Saturday, with the company predicting brisk sales even though the launch has missed much of the holiday shopping season.

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. President Andrew House told reporters Thursday that pre-launch orders had exceeded the allocation made for those keenest to get their hands on the device “extremely quickly” in Japan. He declined to reveal numbers.

The PS Vita goes on sale in North America and Europe on Feb. 22.

Enthusiasm for the new machine among gamers could lead to some shortages at first, House said. But he said Sony can handle the expected load.

“I’m pretty confident … that there will not be major challenges in meeting demand, even though there may be short-term,” House said.

For the Tokyo-based electronics and entertainment giant, the Vita is the biggest product launch since the PlayStation 3 console five years ago.

A successful debut would help Sony offset the rest of its struggling business.

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Tags: Japan Launch, Launch, Sony Gears

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Ranger riding into the sunset

Written on December 10, 2011 – 12:45 am | by Stephanie Brodribb

Roger Johnson talks about his 1998 Ford Ranger with such affection, it’s hard to believe he plans to part with it.

He bought the compact truck from his mother 10 years ago, when he was 16, and until a few months ago it was the only vehicle he ever owned.

He figures he’s put about 100,000 of the nearly 170,000 miles on it, on hunting and fishing trips and on summer jobs hauling tree branches and sod. He used it to get back and forth between his family’s home on the Iron Range and Minnesota State University, Mankato, where he earned an engineering degree.

“It’s a pretty good-looking truck for a 16-year-old, and over the years it’s been very functional for me,” Johnson said.

But tastes have changed, and Johnson is selling his Ranger. He recently bought a roomier and more powerful 2006 Ford F-150, the kind of decision many Ranger owners have made in recent years, sticking with Ford but trading up to full-size trucks.

That trend led Ford to shut down production of the Ranger, and with it the Twin Cities assembly plant in St.

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Tags: Ranger, Ranger Riding

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Shares slide on EU fears

Written on December 9, 2011 – 7:04 pm | by Michael Harris

Australian shares slumped today, to decline 2 per cent over the week, on growing doubts that European leaders will forge a credible plan to solve the euro zone’s debt crisis at a summit due to continue later in the day.

At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 77.7 points, or 1.8 per cent, at 4203, while the broader All Ordinaries index fell 74.8 points, or 1.7 per cent, to 4264.1.

Materials lost 2.4 per cent for the day, financials and energy stocks were both down 1.9 per cent.

European Union leaders announced a new fiscal pact overnight ensuring tougher budget discipline but said they had failed to agree on a treaty change to enshrine the rules, meaning a deal may now involve the 17 euro zone nations plus any others that want to join, diplomats said.

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Tags: Shares, Shares Slide

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Stocks gain on EU deal and data but outlooks drag

Written on December 6, 2011 – 2:04 am | by Ashley Johnson

– Stocks climbed on Friday as European Union leaders agreed on measures to address the region’s sovereign debt crisis, while U.S. consumer confidence rose to its highest level in six months.

An agreement on stricter budget rules for the euro zone went someway to address the structural problems behind the bloc’s debt crisis, but investors said more was now needed to relieve stress in the region’s troubled debt markets.

“Nothing really concrete has come out of that meeting yet, so it is a little surprising that we are seeing as much of an upturn as we have seen,” said Peter Jankovskis, co-chief investment officer at OakBrook Investments in Lisle, Illinois.

Equities had risen in anticipation of a plan, with the S&P 500 up 6.5 percent since late November. But Wall Street tumbled on Thursday after the European Central Bank dashed hopes for additional bond buying, underscoring that markets continue to react to every headline out of Europe.

Banks, which have been pressured by the uncertainty over Europe, rallied after the summit.

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Tags: Stocks, Stocks Gain

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