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Argos Buys Bush
27.11.08
Two of the best-known names in British consumer electricals, Bush and Alba, were rescued today as they were bought by High Street catalogue store Argos for £15.25 million.
The brands, which appear on televisions, set-top boxes and ghetto blasters, were sold by Alba Plc, which will hand cash back to shareholders and change its name to Harvard.
Alba had been considering ending production of the two brands, which between them made losses of almost £20 million in the past two years.
The sale came as Panasonic, the Japanese consumer electronics giant trying to take over rival Sanyo, cut its profits forecast. The world's biggest maker of plasma-screen TVs cut its forecast for the year to next March from 560 billion yen to 340 billion yen.
