Morrisons recovery continues September 13, 2018 Morrisons shares are lower today despite the company reporting a strong set of first-half figures. Same-store-sales for the six-month period jumped by 4.9% and second-quarter sales jumped by 6.3% – a nine year high. Stripping out one-off adjustments, profit increased by 9% to £193 million. When you factor in debt restructuring costs and charges relating [...]
Online sales are set to hit record levels on Black Friday as high street footfall declines November 21, 2018 The proportion of sales made online is likely to hit its highest level ever in November, boosted by a Black Friday internet shopping rush and fewer high street shoppers. Internet sales are expected to exceed 20 per cent of total retail sales for the first time ever this month, according to research by real estate firm [...]
City banker nabbed for M&A role at $320bn Qatari state fund October 2, 2018 Qatar’s largest sovereign wealth fund has grabbed a top City of London banker to run its deal-related activities worldwide, as it moves to expand a $320bn (£246.6bn) portfolio that includes the single-largest stake in supermarket Sainsbury’s, Sky News reported. Sky said Ken McLaren, currently a managing director at Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML), will [...]
Mastercard and Visa lose battle with supermarkets over debit and credit card charges July 4, 2018 Mastercard and Visa have lost the latest round of an ongoing legal battle with a conglomerate of supermarkets after a court found their card charges were too high and had breached competition rules. The two credit card giants had been accused by a number of retailers of charging overly high fees – known as interchange [...]
Retail round up: What’s happening on the high street? January 11, 2019 Not as bad as it could have been. That’s the general feeling about high street performance over Christmas after major retailers and the supermarkets published their festive figures this week. The British Retail Consortium says that 2018 was the worst Christmas for retails for 10 years but, as ever, the figures show there are winners [...]
Food can’t save M&S as it posts weak results again November 8, 2018 High street bellwether Marks and Spencer issued another disappointing set of figures yesterday and warned that sales are unlikely to pick up any time soon. Shares closed down 0.5 per cent, having been over three per cent down earlier in the day. M&S warned of tough trading conditions due to fierce competition from online competitors [...]
Amazon eyed buying Waitrose but was held off by John Lewis Partnership May 6, 2018 Amazon considered an acquisition of Waitrose last year, but was blocked from entering formal talks, reports suggest. A senior executive at the online shopping giant’s UK arm pushed for a meeting with the John Lewis Partnership but was “shut down” by the board, the Sunday Times reported today. The tech company’s acquisition of Whole Foods [...]
Plus-size retailer N Brown Group announces departure of chief executive Angela Spindler September 12, 2018 Digital fashion retailer N Brown Group has announced chief executive Angela Spindler will step down at the end of the month. Current chief executive officer of the financial business, Steve Johnson, will step into the job until a permanent replacement is found. The online outlet, which stocks plus-size brands such as Simply Be and Jacamo, [...]
M&S, Tesco and Primark bosses to face MPs over fast fashion ‘waste’ October 5, 2018 Parliament's environmental audit committee has asked the bosses of 10 UK clothing retailers to reveal their environmental records, amid concerns about serial clothes dumping. High street staples Marks & Spencer, Primark, Next, Tesco, Asda and Sports Direct – among others – will also be summoned to parliament to face questions from the committee in November. Fast fashion is shorthand [...]
CMA launches court action against ticket reselling site Viagogo August 31, 2018 The competition watchdog is taking ticket reselling site Viagogo to court after the company failed to make reforms to its business. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) began action against four secondary ticket sites last November, but Viagogo is the only one not to have offered formal commitments to overhaul its practices. Legal proceedings have now [...]