HomeServe founder pours £110m in crusade to revive flailing British high street August 20, 2023 HomeServe founder Richard Harpin is injecting £110m of his own cash into medium-sized businesses, aiming to breathe life back into the UK’s beleaguered high streets. After cashing in on the sale of insurance company HomeServe to Brookfield last year for a cool £4.1bn, the home repairs mogul Harpin said he is trying to “help others [...]
Retail groups call for business rates reform to save Britain’s high streets April 17, 2023 Retail and hospitality groups have called for urgent reform of business rates, which are contributing to shop closures and job losses. “Retail accounts for 5 per cent of the economy but pays more than one-fifth of business rates,” Helen Dickinson, British Retail Consortium (BRC) chief executive, said. “The overall industry tax take is unsustainably high [...]
WH Smith has no plans to grow ‘healthy’ high street presence as it eyes airports instead June 30, 2023 WH Smith boss said the retailer has no plans to open any additional high street stores but is focusing on growing its transport hub and international presence. “We’ve got a very healthy High Street business in the UK”, Carl Cowling told the BBC, “but we’ve got no ambitions to grow that”. “When you look at [...]
From frumpy fashion to TikTok trendsetter: How M&S regained its high street crown November 8, 2023 Marks & Spencer (M&S) has once again found itself back in fashion with investors and shoppers, posting a near £100m in rise in profits in its half year results. Shares in the company rocketed over 10 per cent this morning after the century-old business said its turnaround plan which intends to make the brand look [...]
London’s West End ‘picking up’ after £102m worth of deals bolsters high street August 23, 2023 The West End showed signs of “picking up” in July as demand from businesses to secure a spot in London’s premier shopping district led to a cluster of five deals totalling £102.2m taking place. So far this year some 58 property transactions have taken place and turnover year to date has reached £1.92bn. This is [...]
Retail sales crash 3.2 per cent in December as struggling high street hits Covid-era low January 19, 2024 UK retail sales plummeted 3.2 per cent in December, well below analyst expectations and the largest monthly fall since January 2021 when coronavirus restrictions pushed down sales. Analysts had expected sales to fall by 0.5 per cent in the last month of the year, but a significant drop in both food and non-food store sales [...]
Sharon White: Departing John Lewis boss calls for ‘cross-party’ effort to fix ailing high streets October 24, 2023 The 56-year-old former Ofcom boss, confessed that department store John Lewis is now 60 per cent online and 40 percent physical.
H&T: Pawnbroker to expand high street and online presence as profits soar 31 per cent August 8, 2023 H&T, Britain’s largest pawnbroker reported a 31 per cent rise in profit before tax to £8.8m – with the pawnbroker looking to cash in on desperate times by expanding its presence. Its pledge book, which includes short-term loans linked to customers’ belongings, grew 14 per cent in the six months ending 30 June, reaching £114.6m [...]
Consumer Duty: High street banks prepare for major regulatory shakeup as clock ticks down May 31, 2023 Banks in the UK have just two months to prepare for the incoming Consumer Duty, with some prominent bankers suggesting the new regulatory standards will prompt widespread changes in the industry. The Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) flagship Consumer Duty, which will come into effect on 31 July, requires firms to deliver good outcomes for retail [...]
Credit crunch: Data suggests high street banks reining in small business lending already May 10, 2023 Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly concerned about lending conditions as new data shows that high street banks are pulling back from SME lending.