News roundup--Smart Turnout, LK Bennett, more

Nick Jenkins, the founder of Moonpig.com, has taken a 50 percent stake in apparel cataloguer/retailer Smart Turnout. Jenkins told the Express, “The trick is to spot things before they become big and Smart Turnout has all the hallmarks of a brand that’s going to be huge.”

Also from the Express, LK Bennett secured a £16 million refinancing to help drive its international expansion. The new debt has come from Lloyds Bank Wholesale Banking & Markets Acquisition Finance, replacing a facility put in place when private equity firms Phoenix Equity Partners and Sirius Equity bought the retailer in 2008. 

At the eleventh hour the Information Commissioner’s Office published new guidelines on the cookie law—less than one day before the law came into effect. The ePrivacy Directive previously called for “explicit consent”—that is asking visitors to website to explicitly agree or “opt in” to have cookies set on their machines. New guidelines, published on Friday, confirmed that an implied consent mechanism is a valid form of consent. With regards “prior” consent, the ICO says that dropping cookies onto a user’s device should be delayed until he understands the type of cookies being used and indicates his consent. However, if this isn’t possible, websites will need to prove that they are trying to ensure that the user receives information about the cookies being used as soon as possible. The ICO website has more information.

Hold the front page! Big news from the Telegraph: Party Pieces uses affiliate marketing.