Links of London's Andrew Marshall tells how he has made the high-end jewellery chain sparkle again in his two years as chief executive.
When I interviewed John Ayton, the then-chairman of Links of London, in June 2004 prior to the opening of the jewellery chain's Sloane Square store, he outlined plans to either float the business on the stock market the following year or sell a portion of it to an outside investor. He had big growth ambitions and wanted to take the business to the next level.
In the event, Mr Ayton ended up doing neither. In 2006 Links was sold to the Greek Folli Follie watches and fashion accessories group Hellenic Duty Free Shops in a £45m deal.
One year after that, former Gucci and Dunhill executive Andrew Marshall was appointed as chief executive of the chain. And then things went quiet.
The coupling of a London-based luxury goods chain with a Greek duty free operator always appeared odd. Ouzo and opals are unlikely bedfellows. But in his first interview since taking the job, Mr Marshall is eager to explain what he has been doing at the chain for the last two years.
It turns out that things have been going rather well at Links, which mainly sells ladies' jewellery but also sells watches, cufflinks and gifts.
Last year, sales at the chain increased to £62.2m from £45.8m the previous year. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation rose from £10.3m to £14.3m. Over the first quarter of the current financial year, sales rose by 44pc.
Mr Marshall outlines what he has been up to. He has opened stores in the UK and overseas (there are now 87 stores and concessions globally, up from 53 two years ago), sharpened up the retailer's focus and implemented "big business" disciplines to what he refers to as a "kitchen table" operation.
He is keen not to appear critical of the previous management (Mr Ayton and his wife Annoushka Ducas have moved on to new ventures), but he says that the chain had in many ways drifted into its comfort zone.
"They [the previous owners] took their eye off the ball and were focusing more on the sale. When I arrived I found a sleeping brand. The essence was there but it was a bit dormant and dusty," he said.
Mr Marshall took a long, hard look at what the brand stood for and concentrated on product development. Since Ms Ducas was the creative mind behind Links' products, Mr Marshall's immediate priority was to find a new designer.
This he did in the shape of Liz Galton, a jewellery designer who had graduated from the Royal College of Art and gone on to secure investment from the assorted entrepreneurs on the first series of the BBC's Dragons' Den. He also appointed a new finance director, promoted the head of retail to oversee European expansion and beefed-up the HR department.
Ms Galton has been the driving force behind Links' new products. Her first range came out earlier this year and has been met with great approval by customers. Mr Marshall explains what the designer brings to the (non-kitchen) table. "When I met her I noticed immediately the chemistry between her and where the brand was going," he says, deploying language picked up over a career in the European luxury goods sector.
He says that when he joined the company, it was positioned wrongly. He says that Links was in the process of being "elevated" as a brand to compete with Bulgari and Cartier – high-end luxury brands – when it should have been "affordable luxury". By affordable luxury he means the kind of shop that sells high-end goods with nice packaging and fancy boxes (the average spend in Links is £150) but not the kind of shop that is restricted to streets such as Bond Street.
So he nudged the brand down a bit. Now, Links products are the type of treats given as office leaving presents in the way that Cartier products would never be. Similarly positioned "white-collar luxury" retailers in the UK would include Jo Malone, The White Company and Molton Brown. The target customer is the 28-year-old female.
The fact that Links' best performing store is in Glasgow – rather than, say, London's Sloane Square – suggests that this subtle repositioning has succeeded.
"We are about to take over the unit next door [in Glasgow]. There is an insatiable appetite for brands up there," he says, adding that when the store opened a day late the shop's staff had to sell products through the letter box to keep Glaswegian customers happy.
Mr Marshall has also cut costs since he joined Links. Store fitting-out costs have fallen by 27pc and courier costs have been cut by 36pc. By sharing resources with its parent company, Links has been able to cut its media buying and real estate overheads. It also shares sourcing, design and production resources with Folli Follie, which has 250 stores globally. Since the takeover, Links has increased its international presence, opening stores in places such as Honolulu. The company will open in Beijing and Shanghai in September.
Mr Marshall works closely with Dimitri Koutsolioutsos, who founded Folli Follie. Indeed, the minute our interview ends he heads to Heathrow to fly to Hong Kong for a meeting on "various structural issues" with Mr Koutsolioutsos.
"I don't know if you've had experience of working with Greeks. It is enjoyable. The family is very much involved and I feel lucky to be a part of it," says Mr Marshall.
He has been given punchy growth targets. Sales this year are expected to be £80m. Next year, £100m.
"They are aggressive [targets]. But given the formula I have we can do it. I have a very good management team in North America and there is enormous opportunity there," he says. Store numbers in the UK are "going to start to plateau" soon and the game here is all about "depth not breadth". However, the sky appears to be the limit with regards to overseas growth.
Mr Marshall has impeccable luxury credentials. He started his career at Dunhill, then went to luxury goods behemoth Richemont to work at its Montblanc brand. He was part of a team that diversified Montblanc away from pens and into new areas such as watches and leather goods. He then ran Gucci's luxury watch business in Asia, then returned to the UK to work at Oliver Sweeney, the footwear and fashion brand. From there he went to Links.
So what does the future hold? Mr Marshall says the retailer's journey as part of Hellenic Duty Free has just begun.
He loves his job. "I don't want to come across as arrogant or complacent. We are preparing ourselves as any business does in tough times – focusing on cost benefit synergies. We are always questioning ourselves. The company culture is young and the management style is to let people take risks and make mistakes," he says.
However, he adds – somewhat enigmatically – that the company is already considering its medium-term options. "There is nothing concrete but we are looking at options. Whether we need to restructure, bring in new investment or maybe a listing. They are just strategic discussions," he says.
Andrew Marshall's CV
Age 47
Family married, two daughters and a son
Lives Fulham, London
Hobbies drawing and painting, "badly"
Favourite jewellery designer Solange Azagury-Partridge always manages to impress me
Education Engineering degree
Friday, July 31, 2009
Now, contact lenses to sharpen aging eyes
Optometrists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have come up with a new breed of contact lenses that can treat presbyopia, a gradual loss of the ability to focus on nearby objects.
gradual loss of the ability to
According to Adam Gordon, O.D., M.P.H., an associate professor in the School of Optometry, bifocal glasses can prove handy, but for those who wear contacts, presbyopia has been an annoying part of aging.
“There’s a huge number of people who don’t want to give up contacts due to presbyopia, or don’t want to wear reading glasses over their contact lenses,” said Gordon, who directs the Cornea and Contact Lens Clinic at UAB Eye Care, the clinical and retail operation of the School of Optometry.
The new multifocal lenses are made with silicone hydrogel polymer, a more breathable and safer material than older soft-lens polymers, Gordon said.
Cutting-edge laser technology is used to manufacture each lens’ complex optical designs, which improve focus on nearby objects.
A comprehensive eye exam can spot the early signs of presbyopia. In addition to treating the condition with eyeglass prescriptions, optometrists traditionally have relied on a corrective technique called monovision – that is, prescribing one contact lens for distance vision and another contact lens for reading in the same patient. Monovision is essentially using non-matched lenses to improve sight.
“Before multifocals, monovision worked very well for 50 years or more, but it created compromises in vision that some people could never get used to,” Gordon said.
“In monovision, the two eyes are always doing something different: one eye is always blurry and the brain has to figure out which eye it should pay the most attention to,” the expert added.
The new multifocal lenses require fewer brain-sight adjustments and appear to improve vision for a large number of contact wearers.
“They are a closer simulation of the way natural vision works and the way eyes are designed to focus,” Gordon said.
Links of London founders launch fine jewellery business
The husband and wife team behind jewellery chain Links of London have launched a new business in 11 department stores.
Annoushka Ducas and John Ayton launched a flagship 700 square foot Annoushka fine jewellery boutique in Harvey Nichols in Knightsbride in London yesterday.
The duo will open other spaces in Harrods, Selfridges in London’s Oxford Street, Liberty and House of Fraser in Westfield London.
They hope the business will generate more than £10m in the first year. In 2006, they sold Links of London for £50m to jewellery manufacturer Folli Follie.
Co-founder John Ayton said: ‘’This is a wonderful opportunity. We started in the jewellery industry in 1990 so we understand recessions and the opportunities they bring. We are extremely excited about this launch and see the great possibilities with the collection. We are committed to combining interesting design with very strong commercial principles and taking this concept into fine jewellery.”
gradual loss of the ability to
According to Adam Gordon, O.D., M.P.H., an associate professor in the School of Optometry, bifocal glasses can prove handy, but for those who wear contacts, presbyopia has been an annoying part of aging.
“There’s a huge number of people who don’t want to give up contacts due to presbyopia, or don’t want to wear reading glasses over their contact lenses,” said Gordon, who directs the Cornea and Contact Lens Clinic at UAB Eye Care, the clinical and retail operation of the School of Optometry.
The new multifocal lenses are made with silicone hydrogel polymer, a more breathable and safer material than older soft-lens polymers, Gordon said.
Cutting-edge laser technology is used to manufacture each lens’ complex optical designs, which improve focus on nearby objects.
A comprehensive eye exam can spot the early signs of presbyopia. In addition to treating the condition with eyeglass prescriptions, optometrists traditionally have relied on a corrective technique called monovision – that is, prescribing one contact lens for distance vision and another contact lens for reading in the same patient. Monovision is essentially using non-matched lenses to improve sight.
“Before multifocals, monovision worked very well for 50 years or more, but it created compromises in vision that some people could never get used to,” Gordon said.
“In monovision, the two eyes are always doing something different: one eye is always blurry and the brain has to figure out which eye it should pay the most attention to,” the expert added.
The new multifocal lenses require fewer brain-sight adjustments and appear to improve vision for a large number of contact wearers.
“They are a closer simulation of the way natural vision works and the way eyes are designed to focus,” Gordon said.
Links of London founders launch fine jewellery business
The husband and wife team behind jewellery chain Links of London have launched a new business in 11 department stores.
Annoushka Ducas and John Ayton launched a flagship 700 square foot Annoushka fine jewellery boutique in Harvey Nichols in Knightsbride in London yesterday.
The duo will open other spaces in Harrods, Selfridges in London’s Oxford Street, Liberty and House of Fraser in Westfield London.
They hope the business will generate more than £10m in the first year. In 2006, they sold Links of London for £50m to jewellery manufacturer Folli Follie.
Co-founder John Ayton said: ‘’This is a wonderful opportunity. We started in the jewellery industry in 1990 so we understand recessions and the opportunities they bring. We are extremely excited about this launch and see the great possibilities with the collection. We are committed to combining interesting design with very strong commercial principles and taking this concept into fine jewellery.”
Not driven to text in a car
It will be a cold day in hell before I text while driving.
TWD is risky -- probably as dangerous as DWI -- but that's not why I refrain from the practice.
The real reason is that my texting skills are terrible.
Even TWC -- texting while couch-bound -- lies far outside my comfort zone.
Example: Just now, I tried to punch in the words "texting sucks" from my numerical cell-phone keypad. What came out was "Ugh pptvpp."
It might as well have said "U R doofus," because the truth is I'd forgotten to press the magic (i.e., unmarked) button that turns off the "T9 predictive text input mode."
In T9 mode my phone is supposed to divine -- from one or two keystrokes -- what I want to say, sparing me the slow and fumbling process of turning numbers into text. But in the heady presence of my ineptitude, the phone's "internal dictionary" acts like a demented "Wheel of Fortune" contestant. One letter and it's off to the races, spewing wildly illogical word combinations. This turns each message into a delete-and-start-over mess.
T9 does have an uncanny ability to recognize catch phrases from "Star Trek." Press 54 (for Li) and it quickly yields, "Live long and prosper" -- Spock's classic motto.
This must mean that Korean phone programmers watch the same sci-fi re-runs I do -- a charming coincidence, but little consolation for my aggravation.
Manual labor
If I had memorized the 139-page user manual, of course, there would be fewer hurdles standing between me and texting.
Or, I could trade up to a wireless device with a typewriter-style keyboard. But that would involve studying another user manual, a chore so brain-depleting that it's best reserved for more essential goals -- such as learning how to hook up the new cable converter box forced upon me by Comcast's channel shifting.
Put another way, texting is just not useful or necessary enough for me to bother with. Thus, I am not tempted to try it while hurtling down the highway, darting in and out of traffic as I juggle cell phone and reading glasses.
That apparently is not the case, however, for more coordinated people. To them, texting is as easy as blinking, and so they do it all the time, including -- or even especially -- while driving.
I'm tempted to call them young and foolish, but evidence -- including the following quote from a 50-year-old man -- suggests a broader demographic.
"Sometimes I text and drive," Dave St. Bernard told the New York Post in a July 17 article about the New York legislature's move to ban the practice. "I'm sure it is dangerous, but you get complacent sometimes as a driver. You think you can handle anything on the roads that comes your way."
At least the guy understands the truth, even if he's not conscientious enough to heed it.
Texting while driving is risky business. Proof of this is piling up like accident debris on the roadside.
A Virginia Tech study, publicized this week, concluded that truck drivers multiply their risk of a "crash or near-crash event" by a factor of 23 when they text behind the wheel. No other cell-phone-related distraction even comes close.
A big-rig driver with his eyes on the phone instead of the road is your basic nightmare scenario. Can't these good buddies just go back to the old-school, we're-in-a-great-big-convoy days of CB radio?
Financial disincentive
I haven't done a scientific study, but given sufficient grant money I could probably prove that texting while driving is only slightly more productive than shooting up heroin -- and twice as addictive. It needs to be stopped in all 50 states, not just the 14 where it has been outlawed.
The U.S. Senate took a step in the right direction this week, introducing a bill that would force states to either enact a TWD ban or forfeit a quarter of their federal highway funding.
Nothing communicates like money, eh? This extortion -- er, legislation -- should be approved.
Then, when the time comes for state lawmakers to decide whether to acquiesce, they should do the sensible thing: Pull over, whip out their Blackberries and text, in unison:
"OK."
Even my T9 can figure out that one.
TWD is risky -- probably as dangerous as DWI -- but that's not why I refrain from the practice.
The real reason is that my texting skills are terrible.
Even TWC -- texting while couch-bound -- lies far outside my comfort zone.
Example: Just now, I tried to punch in the words "texting sucks" from my numerical cell-phone keypad. What came out was "Ugh pptvpp."
It might as well have said "U R doofus," because the truth is I'd forgotten to press the magic (i.e., unmarked) button that turns off the "T9 predictive text input mode."
In T9 mode my phone is supposed to divine -- from one or two keystrokes -- what I want to say, sparing me the slow and fumbling process of turning numbers into text. But in the heady presence of my ineptitude, the phone's "internal dictionary" acts like a demented "Wheel of Fortune" contestant. One letter and it's off to the races, spewing wildly illogical word combinations. This turns each message into a delete-and-start-over mess.
T9 does have an uncanny ability to recognize catch phrases from "Star Trek." Press 54 (for Li) and it quickly yields, "Live long and prosper" -- Spock's classic motto.
This must mean that Korean phone programmers watch the same sci-fi re-runs I do -- a charming coincidence, but little consolation for my aggravation.
Manual labor
If I had memorized the 139-page user manual, of course, there would be fewer hurdles standing between me and texting.
Or, I could trade up to a wireless device with a typewriter-style keyboard. But that would involve studying another user manual, a chore so brain-depleting that it's best reserved for more essential goals -- such as learning how to hook up the new cable converter box forced upon me by Comcast's channel shifting.
Put another way, texting is just not useful or necessary enough for me to bother with. Thus, I am not tempted to try it while hurtling down the highway, darting in and out of traffic as I juggle cell phone and reading glasses.
That apparently is not the case, however, for more coordinated people. To them, texting is as easy as blinking, and so they do it all the time, including -- or even especially -- while driving.
I'm tempted to call them young and foolish, but evidence -- including the following quote from a 50-year-old man -- suggests a broader demographic.
"Sometimes I text and drive," Dave St. Bernard told the New York Post in a July 17 article about the New York legislature's move to ban the practice. "I'm sure it is dangerous, but you get complacent sometimes as a driver. You think you can handle anything on the roads that comes your way."
At least the guy understands the truth, even if he's not conscientious enough to heed it.
Texting while driving is risky business. Proof of this is piling up like accident debris on the roadside.
A Virginia Tech study, publicized this week, concluded that truck drivers multiply their risk of a "crash or near-crash event" by a factor of 23 when they text behind the wheel. No other cell-phone-related distraction even comes close.
A big-rig driver with his eyes on the phone instead of the road is your basic nightmare scenario. Can't these good buddies just go back to the old-school, we're-in-a-great-big-convoy days of CB radio?
Financial disincentive
I haven't done a scientific study, but given sufficient grant money I could probably prove that texting while driving is only slightly more productive than shooting up heroin -- and twice as addictive. It needs to be stopped in all 50 states, not just the 14 where it has been outlawed.
The U.S. Senate took a step in the right direction this week, introducing a bill that would force states to either enact a TWD ban or forfeit a quarter of their federal highway funding.
Nothing communicates like money, eh? This extortion -- er, legislation -- should be approved.
Then, when the time comes for state lawmakers to decide whether to acquiesce, they should do the sensible thing: Pull over, whip out their Blackberries and text, in unison:
"OK."
Even my T9 can figure out that one.
Jeffrey Katzenberg: Don't ever take off those 3-D glasses!
01:09 PM PT, Jul 28 2009
I guess it's too early for Jeffrey Katzenberg to be touting the aesthetic glories of "Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom," since it doesn't actually come out for almost two more years. (That's the real title -- we couldn't possibly make these things up.) So the indefatigable huckster is back out on the tech circuit, beating the drums for his 3-D crusade -- only this time he's promoting the idea of having us wear our 3-D glasses all day long, hoping we'll put some more cash on the barrelhead so we can be the first on our block to have a fancy new TV set that will allow us to spend all our waking hours watching 3-D movies, sporting events and ESPN poker matches.
As the Hollywood Reporter explained, Katzenberg was at Fortune magazine's Brainstorm: Tech conference hailing new 3-D technology that is "so far beyond" what it was just nine months ago, which is exactly when he last bought a new TV set. In the beginning, according to the DreamWorks Animation chief, consumers will need special glasses to watch every wonderful 3-D event, but he predicted that new "autostereo displays" will negate that need in "a handful of years."
Katzenberg also found time to tout the troubled Blue-ray DVD format, which consumers have been ignoring in droves, claiming that it will also be a big force behind the 3-D revolution, saying "Blu-ray is a fantastic platform for 3-D." I guess once you get Katzenberg wound up, he'll sing the praises of practically any product, since the Reporter actually quotes him as extolling the virtues of "Up," the film made by Pixar -- DreamWorks' much-loathed arch-rival -- which Katzenberg called a film he "loved."
I hate seeing all this persuasive power wasted on a gimmick like 3-D. Since Katzenberg has been such a big donor to the Democratic Party, maybe the Obama administration should bring him to Washington to help it sell its healthcare legislation. If Katzenberg can get millions of American to spend an extra 3 bucks to watch "Monsters vs. Aliens" in 3-D, then surely he could find a way to finagle 15 or 20 Republican congressmen to vote for a healthcare bill.
I guess it's too early for Jeffrey Katzenberg to be touting the aesthetic glories of "Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom," since it doesn't actually come out for almost two more years. (That's the real title -- we couldn't possibly make these things up.) So the indefatigable huckster is back out on the tech circuit, beating the drums for his 3-D crusade -- only this time he's promoting the idea of having us wear our 3-D glasses all day long, hoping we'll put some more cash on the barrelhead so we can be the first on our block to have a fancy new TV set that will allow us to spend all our waking hours watching 3-D movies, sporting events and ESPN poker matches.
As the Hollywood Reporter explained, Katzenberg was at Fortune magazine's Brainstorm: Tech conference hailing new 3-D technology that is "so far beyond" what it was just nine months ago, which is exactly when he last bought a new TV set. In the beginning, according to the DreamWorks Animation chief, consumers will need special glasses to watch every wonderful 3-D event, but he predicted that new "autostereo displays" will negate that need in "a handful of years."
Katzenberg also found time to tout the troubled Blue-ray DVD format, which consumers have been ignoring in droves, claiming that it will also be a big force behind the 3-D revolution, saying "Blu-ray is a fantastic platform for 3-D." I guess once you get Katzenberg wound up, he'll sing the praises of practically any product, since the Reporter actually quotes him as extolling the virtues of "Up," the film made by Pixar -- DreamWorks' much-loathed arch-rival -- which Katzenberg called a film he "loved."
I hate seeing all this persuasive power wasted on a gimmick like 3-D. Since Katzenberg has been such a big donor to the Democratic Party, maybe the Obama administration should bring him to Washington to help it sell its healthcare legislation. If Katzenberg can get millions of American to spend an extra 3 bucks to watch "Monsters vs. Aliens" in 3-D, then surely he could find a way to finagle 15 or 20 Republican congressmen to vote for a healthcare bill.
Chicago man charged with stealing $45,000 worth of designer glasses
John Dillinger robbed banks. Bernie Madoff filched his clients' life savings. And Jerry Lowery has his own crime niche -- stealing designer eyeglasses.
Lowery, 38, of Chicago told Wisconsin officials last weekend that he snatched $45,000 worth of high-end eyeglasses from suburban Milwaukee stores because "he really likes to be around glasses," according to a news report.
He was charged with three counts of armed robbery and one count of fleeing an officer, court records show.
But there might be more here than meets the eye.
In 1996, Chicago police arrested Lowery for stealing designer eyeglass frames from seven stores over four months. He served prison time after pleading guilty to six counts of aggravated robbery. After his release, he was arrested yet again after grabbing more fancy frames, according to court records.
In each case, Lowery brandished a toy gun and ordered an employee to fill a bag with eyewear.
Lowery sold the glasses to a Highland Park man for $30 apiece, who then resold them in his Chicago shop for hundreds more, the Tribune reported at the time.
According to The Associated Press, Lowery told officials that -- though he stole the glasses -- he simply likes to try on Prada and Gucci-made pairs in front of a mirror, then toss them away.
Lisa Black
Lowery, 38, of Chicago told Wisconsin officials last weekend that he snatched $45,000 worth of high-end eyeglasses from suburban Milwaukee stores because "he really likes to be around glasses," according to a news report.
He was charged with three counts of armed robbery and one count of fleeing an officer, court records show.
But there might be more here than meets the eye.
In 1996, Chicago police arrested Lowery for stealing designer eyeglass frames from seven stores over four months. He served prison time after pleading guilty to six counts of aggravated robbery. After his release, he was arrested yet again after grabbing more fancy frames, according to court records.
In each case, Lowery brandished a toy gun and ordered an employee to fill a bag with eyewear.
Lowery sold the glasses to a Highland Park man for $30 apiece, who then resold them in his Chicago shop for hundreds more, the Tribune reported at the time.
According to The Associated Press, Lowery told officials that -- though he stole the glasses -- he simply likes to try on Prada and Gucci-made pairs in front of a mirror, then toss them away.
Lisa Black
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