Tie Rack in the red

TIE RACK, the struggling retailer chaired by Roy Bishko (pictured above), plunged into the red and scrapped its dividend in the first half of the year as the Asian economic turmoil and the effect of the strong pound caused a slump in sales, the company said yesterday.

The news sent shares in Tie Rack, which issued three profit warnings this year, down 2p to a five-year low of 23.5p.

The company, which owns 465 stores across the globe, posted a pounds 4.3m loss in the first six months of the year, compared with a pounds 158,000 profit in 1997.