Home-grown online retailer SurfStich has acquired its international competitor Surfdome.com, reports Fairfax.
The acquisition comes just months after SurfStich bought out its largest shareholder and competitor Billabong and amid rumours it plans to launch an initial public offering by the end of the year.
Surfdome is Europe’s largest online action sports retailer and SurfStich is reported to have handed over $45 million to previous owner Quiksilver. Turnover for the SurfStich group is now estimated to be more than $200 million.
“We see Surfdome as being very complementary to Surfstoch,” co-founder Justin Cameron told Fairfax. “We are now the number one player in all the areas we operate.”
Sydney overtakes Melbourne as auction capital
Sydney has overtaken Melbourne for the title of most popular auction city for the first time.
Due to an increase in the popularity of auctions, more homes have been sold in Sydney at auction this year than Melbourne.
“This is the first time this has occurred,” said RP Data housing market specialist Robert Larocca in a statement.
RP Data shows the new auction capital recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 69% on the weekend off the back of 1235 auctions, compared to 75.6% last week and 76% last year.
“After a fortnight of mild improvement the ongoing high volumes are clearly having an impact with a lower clearance rate this week,” said Larocca.
Meanwhile Melbourne scored a clearance of just 63.8%, compared to 69.6% last week and 68.1% this time last year.
“The market is shifting in favour of buyers at the right time of the year with a high volume of auctions expected between now and Christmas,” said Larocca.
Sydney is expecting 5000 auctions to be held this month, the highest number ever recorded.
Local shares lower
Aussie shares are trading lower this morning.
The S&P/ASX200 benchmark was down 37.5 points to 5511.6 points at 12:00PM AEST. On Friday, the Dow Jones closed up 0.11%, rising 19.46 points to 17,573.9 points.
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