Business briefs: Kiwis’ ninja swoop for Digital Goldfish | Asos | Restaurant Group

Published on 02/11/2012 00:00

NEW ZEALAND-based Ninja Kiwi has acquired Dundee games company Digital Goldfish for an undisclosed sum.

The Kiwi firm, whose tagline is “more awesomer”, said Digital Goldfish’s founders David Hamilton and Barry Petrie would remain to run the studio which employs 15.

The two firms have worked closely together on a number of projects, including mobile versions of Ninja’s popular Bloons games. Chris Harris, co-founder of Ninja Kiwi, said: “Joining forces with the Digital Goldfish team is just awesome.”

Restaurant Group sees sales rise

Restaurant Group, owner of the Frankie & Benny’s and Garfunkel’s chains, has cheered a 3.5 per cent hike in like-for-like sales in the 43 weeks to 28 October after seeing further growth in September and October.

The firm, which also owns Chiquito, plans to open up to a further 13 restaurants this year, having already added 16 so far in 2012, giving it 410 outlets and pub restaurants.

In a trading update, it said: “Since the end of August, the group has continued to trade strongly. We remain on track to meet expectations for the full year.”

McBride switches focus to Asos

Brian McBride, the Scots-born e-commerce veteran who yesterday took over as chairman of online fashion retailer Asos, has stepped down as a non-executive director of Monitise after serving on the mobile banking firm’s board for a year.

The former managing director of Amazon in the UK is also a non-executive at the BBC and IT provider Computacenter, and sits on the advisory boards of telecoms group Huawei UK and investment bank Numis.

A spokesman for investor group ShareSoc said: “We hope the new non-executive director will have fewer roles.”