David Jones makes $20 million NZ push; Appointment booking service 1stAvailable to jump onto the ASX next week: Midday Roundup

Department store David Jones has made its first move across the Tasman after 177 years in business, revealing it will invest $20 million to transform and rebrand Wellington’s iconic department store Kirkcaldie and Stains.

Chief executive Iain Nairn confirmed to Fairfax the move would give David Jones a significant foothold in a growing market.

“We’ll be gutting the store and creating a brand new store and investing a significant amount of money into this business to significantly transform it. We’ll create a beautiful, world-class department store,” Nairn told Fairfax.

David Jones will open its first Kiwi store in mid-2016 after taking over the lease of the 152-year-old Kirkcaldie and Stains site and paying $400,000 cash for the brand.

Since taking over the high-end department chain for $2.15 billion in April last year, David Jones’ new owner, South African retail giant Woolworths Holdings, has helped push profits up by 10.3%.

Appointment booking service 1stAvailable to jump onto the ASX next week

Online health booking service 1stAvailable will make its debut on the Australian Securities Exchange next week after raising $5.3 million in an initial public offering, the first business of its kind to do so.

The IPO has been in the works for a while, with the company initially hoping to raise $10 million.

In the wake of the capital injection 1stAvailable hopes to accelerate its marketing efforts.

The IPO follows the company’s acquisition of three other booking services. Combined, the businesses of 1st Available, GOBookings, Clinic Connect and DocAppointments are expected to secure 87,000 appointments each month.

Shares up on open

After a horror week for the Australian share market, shares have rebounded slightly this morning.

“Although higher iron ore prices and calmer bond markets provide a couple of positives for markets today, investors head into the last day of a tough trading week with plenty to be cautious about,” said Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, in a statement.

“There is no reason yet to suggest that the recent bond rout has come to an end. However, the fact that selling momentum was arrested in international bond markets last night will give equity investors some pause for relief today.”

The S&P/ASX200 benchmark was up 13 points to 5517.3 points at 12:10pm AEST. On Thursday, the Dow Jones closed down 0.94%, falling 170.69 points to 17,905.6 points.