Wealthy Chinese shoppers are beginning to ditch European shopping trips for Asian spending sprees.

The fashion house Hugo Boss is expecting Asia's luxury market to rebound. Boss's revenue in China rose just 4 per cent in 2012 after sales at shops open a year or more fell in the second and third quarters. But demand has picked up since, and the suitmaker is holding a fashion show in Shanghai in May.

You can stream all 53 minutes of the musician's new album now on iTunes

A bounce-back in Hugo Boss's share price in the final quarter helped SVG Capital, the listed private equity fund, to record a 16 per cent jump in the value of its assets in 2012.

German luxury brand Hugo Boss today said it was confident of growing ahead of the luxury market this year after it delivered an uplift in annual profits.

Foot off the pedal and doing everything to protect his third place over the last 500 miles, Alex Thomson was sounding happier as he added “I don’t care where I finish (in the Vendée Globe solo round the world race) just as long as I finish.”

The Vendée Globe record for sailing solo round the world has been well and truly smashed by François Gabart, crossing the finishing line today to become the youngest ever winner in a time of 78 days, 2hrs 16mins 40secs.

British solo sailor Alex Thomson has third place in the Vendée Globe round the world race in his grasp as the man ahead of him, Jean-Pierre Dick lost his keel overnight as is limping to safety in the Azores.

British solo sailor Alex Thomson has set a new national record for sailing from the equator and back to the equator of 68d 14hr 53min. That is nearly three weeks quicker than the old record set by Mike Golding.

In a determined push up the Atlantic, Britain’s Alex Thomson is poised to take over third place in the Vendée Globe round the world race for singlehanders.

A collision which could have knocked Britain’s Alex Thomson out of the Vendée Globe round the world race has also affected his ability to communicate with his team base as he continues to make fast progress deep south in the Indian Ocean.

Kito de Pavant became the second to retire from the Vendée Globe singlehanded non-stop round the world race in the opening 48 hours after colliding with a fishing trawler 45 miles off the coast of Portugal. It was the second time he has been forced to withdraw from a race notorious for the rate of attrition.

A sharp fall in Hugo Boss's share price saw SVG Capital, the quoted proxy for giant private-equity group Permira, go into reverse in the third quarter.