BDC, the north London based distributor that went into administration on November 21, has been rescued in a management buyout.

The European Commission has approved a Euros 68 million (around £60.4m) loan guarantee to rescue Italian appliance maker Antonio Merloni, which has been hit by rising raw material costs and growing debts, according to Reuters.

Photographic retailer Jessops reported that like-for-like sales fell 6.5 per cent in the year to September 30 resulting in pre-tax losses of £19.1 million.

Gloom continues for Japanese giants as losses grow and job cuts mount.

A plan to change the Europe-wide energy efficiency label has been slammed by a leading environmental chief.

Suppliers must pass on price cuts to consumers, Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy has warned.

Most industry reaction to the Government's Digital Britain report (see "Government lays out plans for a digital future" at ertonline.co.uk) have focused on its plans for DAB and digital radio switchover.

Whirlpool Europe is to receive "substantial funding" from the Italian Government for its Greenkitchen project.

The Government has outlined its plans "to secure Britain's place at the forefront of the global digital economy".

DAB's share of radio listening grew to 11.4 per cent in the three months to December 31, up from 9.9 per cent a year earlier.

The Shop Direct Group, which claims to be the country's largest online and home shopping retailer with around five million active customers and sales of £1.6 billion, is to axe 1,150 jobs from its 10,500 workforce.

Breakdown insurer Domestic and General has named Acland's Radio & Television of Bridgwater in Somerset as its high-street retailer of the year.

Supermarket group Asda is to create more than 7,000 jobs this year and recruit up to 3,000 long-term unemployed people to fill existing vacancies.

Sky today cut the price of its Sky+HD set-top box from £150 to £49 "to make high definition more accessible to everyone".

Another heavy fall in retail sales in January was reported by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).

More than half-a-million DAB radios were sold in December according to the latest figures from analyst GfK.

More than two Freeview+ boxes were bought every minute throughout December, bringing the total number of Freeview+ boxes sold to date to more than 900,000.

JUST days before the event was scheduled to take place at London’s Olympia, the organisers of the Retail Business Show and the Retail Business Awards have been cancelled.

OFCOM has agreed to license the use of in-store DAB signal boosters to help retailers demonstrate the benefits of digital radio more effectively.

Philips is the latest major electricals brand to report a loss – in this instance, Euros 1.47 billion (around £1.4bn) in the last quarter of its financial year.

Software giant Microsoft has said it is to cut around 5,000 jobs during the next 18 months after it missed its sales targets by nearly $1 billion (around £720 million) in the closing months of 2008.

The UK is officially in recession with two consecutive quarters of negative growth confirmed by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Samsung has reported its first-ever quarterly loss of Won 22.2 billion (around £11.7 million).

Against the tide of job cuts and downsizing from other brands, Apple has just posted the best-ever quarterly results in its history.

Sony has warned that it is set to make a Yen 260 billion (around £2.1bn) operating loss in the year to March 31.

The UK jobless total rose by 131,000 between September and November to hit 1.92 million.

Telecoms company Ericsson is to slash 5,000 jobs to cut costs in spite of increasing sales by 23 per cent to SKr 67 billion (around £5.9bn) in the fourth quarter.

Germany's biggest retailer is to axe 15,000 jobs or five per cent of its workforce.

DSGi - parent company of Currys.digital, Currys, PC World and Dixons – has announced that John Allan will take over as the group's chairman in September.

Total like-for-like sales at Kesa fell 5.5 per cent in the quarter to January 8, but its Comet subsidiary did rather better than the rest of the group's businesses with a like-for-like drop of just 2.5 per cent.

Administrators were called into Empire Direct yesterday following a "significant" downturn in sales.

The USA's second biggest electrical retailer Circuit City is to close with the loss of 30,000 jobs.

Around 200 workers from Hoover's factory and head office site in Merthyr Tydfil to the town's civic centre on Friday to protest at the potential loss of 337 manufacturing jobs at the site.

The Digital TV Group (DTG) is to appoint a new chairman to replace Professor David Youlton who has decided to step down following more than 10 years in the role.

Chip maker Intel saw its net income plummet 90 per cent to $234 million (around £156.8m) from $2.27bn a year ago in the last three months of 2008.

Carphone Warehouse, or Best Buy Europe as the group's retail business is now called, saw like-for-like revenues rise 6.5 per cent in the 13 weeks to December 27.

Entertainment retailer HMV is to raise money from new shares to finance the acquisition of 14 stores from Zavvi.

Pioneer is to cease production of its LaserDisc (LD) players after it has completed a production run of another 3,000 players in Japan.

The last major TV factory in Britain is to close.

High-street catalogue retailer Argos reported a 7.5 per cent drop in its like-for-like sales.

A 10 per cent drop in like-for-like sales in the 12 weeks to January 10 was reported by DSG International, parent company of Currys, Currys.digital, PC World and Dixons.

Toshiba is reported to be in the final stages of talks to buy Fujitsu's hard disk drive business.

The Aga Rangemaster Group revealed it has cut 12 per cent of its workforce - around 400 jobs - during the past year and shortened factory hours to trim costs.

The Government is to guarantee up to £20 billion of loans to small firms.

The country's retailers could face a business rates bill of up to £7 billion by 2010/11, warn retail leaders.

High street frozen-food chain Iceland has bought 51 former Woolworths stores, around three-quarters of them in the south of England.

Freeplay, the brand known for its portable solar-powered and wind-up energy products, is set to return to the UK market in a big way in 2009, with a revolutionary new charging device and what it claims is the world's most energy-efficient DAB radio.

Sharp will launch what it claims is the world's first LCD TV with a built-in Blu-ray player later this year.

Samsung has used CES 2009 to introduce what it is calling a new category in flat-screen television - LED TV.

Sales of equipment to receive free-to-view satellite service Freesat doubled in the last three months of 2008 to bring the number of units sold since its launch in May to more than 200,000.

This year's CES (Jan 8-11- Las Vegas) is set to be a battleground for which manufacturer has the skinniest TV on display.

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee has slashed half a percentage point off the Bank Rate to bring it down to 1.5 per cent – its lowest level since the Bank of England was founded more than 300 years ago.

Wireless high-definition TV and 3D technology are the buzzwords at this year's CES in Las Vegas (Jan 8-11), with LG predicting big things for these new developments in the consumer electronics marketplace.

Doncaster-based Miller Brothers has gone into administration for the second time in two-and-a-half years.

Prices of non-food products have fallen at their fastest rate in two years, according to new figures from the British Retail Consortium.

Marks and Spencer is to close 27 stores - two of its normal stores and 25 Simply Food outlets.

Department store group Debenhams reported a year-on-year rise of 0.6 per cent in the gross transaction value of its sales in the 18 weeks to January 3.

Marks and Spencer is widely expected to announce nearly a thousand job losses tomorrow when it is due to give a trading update to the City.

Japanese brown goods giant Sony is reported to be on the brink of an upheaval that will result in job cuts and changes in management and manufacturing.

Woolworths is to close the last of its stores tomorrow.