The share price of Home Retail – the group which owns Argos– has doubled since last summer. This is all well and good, but it fails to correlate with a company whose pre-tax profits have just fallen for the fifth year in a row – down to £91.1m from £101.6m a year ago.

At the same time as the announcement of its parent company, Argos reported a rise in underlying sales – the first time that has happened over the same time period.

This is in contrast to one of Home Retail’s other interests, Homebase – its profit more than halved in a year – £23m to £11m.

It is plain to see the market sees some value in Argos despite the fact that it has experienced a huge slump in profits (£376m to £100m) since 2008. Those who are not experts should probably look towards the store’s digital overhaul for reasons.

The strategy of becoming a more digitally led business is clearly correct, internet orders already account for 42 per cent of Argos’ sales. Argos is still in the game and may prove to be a fine example of a business diversifying well and making successful changes to IT, distribution and product ranges.

Its owners say Argos was also helped by high sales of electronics such as iPads and tablet computers – something that has been aided by the demise of competitors such as Comet.

“This has led to the retailer enjoying a boost in sales of tablets, white goods and core electricals which, with electricals making up around half of Argos’s sales, has helped to offset an on-going sluggish performance in [the home division],” said retail analysts Conlumino.

Chief executive, Terry Duddy, is aiming to improve annual sales at Argos from £3.9bn to £4.5bn by 2018 – 3% a year. Experts say this is not over-optimistic and ought to be possible.

If operating margins can improve from 2.6% to 5%, profits would be £225m not £100m. You need look no further at why the share price has risen.

Scientists at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (Cern) are working on a project to recreate the first-ever web page, it has been revealed. It was, of course, a Cern team – under the guidance of Prof Sir Tim Berners-Lee – that developed the web as we know it today, and it’s hoped that this new initiative will preserve some of the original hardware and software used at the very inception of the internet.

In addition, Cern hopes that the restoration of the first web page will serve as a reminder of the web’s founding values and an inspiration for the future, as well as helping children to learn more about the organisation’s decision to effectively hand the technology over for free some 20 years ago. Cern did have the option of charging royalties on the software used to run the World Wide Web, but chose not to – paving the way for the internet’s explosive growth. Indeed, had it not been for that crucial decision, the internet’s massive global reach may never have been realised.

While groundbreaking at the time, the first web page isn’t quite the multimedia experience that we’ve become used to!

The website was originally created on April 30^th 1993 and contained information about the World Wide Web project. Visitors were invited to learn how to use the internet and how to create their own websites, in addition to using the web to find information. The web software was originally created by Sir Tim Berners-Lee in 1989 with the aim of facilitating easier information-sharing between scientific institutions.

At a time when questions over web accessibility and privacy are very much at the forefront of public debate, Cern’s latest project seems like a timely reminder of what the web was originally intended to be when it all began. The importance of universal accessibility remains at the heart of the World Wide Web – and it’s a principle that’s well worth defending.

A controversial plan to store details of British web users’ online activity will not materialise while the Liberal Democrats are in government, according to the party’s leader and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg. Speaking on his weekly LBC phone-in radio show, Clegg said that the so-called “snooper’s charter” was “not going to happen” on his watch. The move will no doubt come as a relief to web campaigners and Lib Dem activists, many of whom were angered by the party’s support for former justice secretary Ken Clarke’s secret courts legislation, which was passed by parliament last month.

There had been media speculation that an amended bill, with several concessions aimed at securing Lib Dem support, would appear in the next Queen’s Speech. However, Clegg’s intervention appears to have closed the door on any such proposal. Nevertheless, a spokesperson for Downing Street said that discussions would continue about the “next steps”, so it seems clear that David Cameron remains keen to push this particular proposal.

Cameron himself made headlines earlier in the week when he signalled his support for new content filters on public Wi-Fi connections, ostensibly to prevent minors from accessing adult content online. A number of children’s charities have campaigned in recent months for righter restrictions on youngsters’ access to the internet, and it is understood that the government remains in talks with network providers to see just how the plan could be implemented.

Web privacy issues have been at the forefront of debate for the last couple of years, and it isn’t just governments that have come in for flak. Facebook – which has provoked the ire of campaigners on a number of occasions – was again criticised recently when it unveiled its new Home software, which opponents say will make it more difficult for users to disconnect from the social networking service. It seems clear that state and private bodies alike are struggling to strike the right balance when it comes to online privacy. This is, if anything, an issue which is likely to be even more hotly disputed over the coming years.

With half-term just around the corner, you might well be wondering how you’re going to keep the kids – and yourself – occupied while they’re all off school. Luckily for you, Parcel2Go could have just the solution for you. As part of the latest in our long line of competitions, we’re offering you the chance to win a £50 voucher courtesy of Vue. There are Vue cinemas all over the UK and you should be able to find one near you – so why not enjoy an outing to the flicks?

Whether you want to take in an action-packed action-adventure blockbuster, a rom-com or something a little more off-the-wall, it’s all up to you. All you have to do is log on to Twitter and retweet to be in with a chance of winning. Alternatively you can enter by tagging who you’d take with you on Facebook. So why delay? Get involved!

US senators’ plans to introduce a new bill allowing individual states to collect online sales taxes on items sold outside their own boarders have prompted fierce opposition from leading online marketplace eBay, which claims that small online merchants are likely to be hit hard by the new legislation.

The US Senate is expected to vote on the Marketplace Fairness Act early this week, and eBay has been furiously lobbying millions of its users in an effort to mobilise opposition. Under current legislative arrangements, US states can only collect online sales tax revenue on merchants with a physical presence in that particular state. However, American legislators say they want to level the playing field – and they also have the backing of big-name retailers, including Wal-Mart and eBay’s online rival Amazon.

Under the terms of the new legislation, merchants which generate less than $1m in out-of-state revenue will be excluded, while those with more than $1m would be compelled to collect sales taxes and then forward them on to the relevant state. However, eBay chief executive John Donahoe argues that merchants with less than $10m in out-of-state sales should be exempted from the Marketplace Finance Act, while the firm’s senior director of global public policy Brian Bieron hit out at Amazon, accusing it of attempting to shut down competition.

It seems highly likely that there will be further disputes along similar lines over the coming years. With global tax arrangements coming under ever closer scrutiny due to widespread public sentiment that big businesses aren’t paying their fair share, it was always inevitable that online firms and their tax arrangements would be subject to further investigation. Just this week, in fact, Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt was forced to defend his firm after it was revealed to have paid just £6m in corporation tax.

Just how this will all play out over the next few years remains to be seen, of course. But if you’re an online merchant, you might want to pay attention to the ongoing tug of war in the US – because it could set the stage for similar disputes in the not-too-distant future.

Technology giant Apple and online marketplace eBay both saw their shares fall sharply as concerns over sales and revenues spooked investors. Concerns over weaker-than-expected trading saw shares in eBay dip by more than three per cent in after-hours trading, while Apple’s shares slipped below $400 for the first time since December 2011. With the latter still adapting to the post-Steve Jobs era, it seems likely that the current uncertainty is likely to intensify the speculation surrounding the firm – and potentially open up opportunities for competitors.

In its latest trading update, eBay claimed that continuing economic weakness in Europe was the main reason for the slight miss in revenues during the most recent quarter of its financial year. UK sales also proved disappointing, as economic uncertainty and the squeeze on household incomes continued to weigh on consumer demand. It is worth remembering, though, that earnings per share actually beat analysts’ expectations, weighing in at 63 cents per share as opposed to the anticipated 62 cents – so if you’ve got shares in eBay, perhaps it’s best if you don’t panic just yet.

Apple, meanwhile, is due to post its latest set of financial results next week, so we don’t know as yet exactly how the company has performed in recent months. However, one of its component suppliers, Citrus Logic, reported this week that sales had declined – and needless to say, this didn’t do much to shore up investor confidence, hence the dip in Apple’s share price. Although Apple remains the top dog in the tablet and smartphone markets, it’s coming under increasing pressure from rivals and its market share has shown signs of waning recently, so it might be worth keeping tabs on developments to see just what the company offers by way of response.