Winter freeze knocks retail sales growth January 10, 2011 HIGH street spending took a severe hit from last month’s snow, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) confirmed today. Like-for-like sales in December dropped by 0.3 per cent on the previous year, the group reported, although for the whole of 2010 these sales increased by 0.8 per cent. “The unusually early winter weather made a difficult [...]
A marathon endeavour for Emma Crosby April 14, 2011 The Channel Five news presenter is running the Virgin London Marathon on Sunday, raising money for the charity Wellbeing of Women (www.wellbeingofwomen.org.uk). She told Zoe Strimpel how she feels to be taking part in one of the world’s biggest sporting events. City A.M.: Why did you decide to run the marathon? Emma Crosby: I decided [...]
ASOS surge driven by overseas sales January 19, 2011 SALES at online fashion retailer ASOS soared by 59 per cent over the Christmas period – with its international performance driving the company forward. Overseas sales jumped by 156 per cent while poor weather in the UK hit deliveries. The firm said UK retail sales increased 23 per cent to £56.3m, in the three months [...]
Analyst views: What is the outlook for retailers’ figures this week? January 9, 2011 NICK BUBB | ARDEN “The resilience of trading at the premium end of the High Street, as evidenced by John Lewis, is still striking. Investors can’t buy shares in John Lewis, but they can buy shares in M&S, which is the best proxy for the strength of middle-class spending on food and clothing.” KEITH BOWMAN [...]
Portmeirion to lift sales to new record of £50m January 20, 2011 BRITISH pottery manufacturer Portmeirion yesterday said annual sales will top £50m for the first time after a particularly strong Christmas. More than £13m of the sales come from Spode and Royal Worcester which were bought from the liquidator two years ago. Chairman Dick Steele said much of the growth came from new designs on old [...]
WH Smith in margin boost January 26, 2011 WH SMITH said yesterday a drop in sales over Christmas had been offset by a rise in profit margins. Sales in the two months to 22 January dropped four per cent at the newspaper, stationery and book chain. Like-for-like sales, which strip out the effect of new store spaces, fell by seven per cent. The [...]
WH Smith in margin boost January 26, 2011 WH SMITH said yesterday a drop in sales over Christmas had been offset by a rise in profit margins. Sales in the two months to 22 January dropped four per cent at the newspaper, stationery and book chain. Like-for-like sales, which strip out the effect of new store spaces, fell by seven per cent. The [...]
HMV in talks with Russian billionaire over sale of bookseller Waterstone’s February 27, 2011 HIGH street bookseller Waterstone’s could be sold to a Russian billionaire by its owner HMV. The retailer is said to be holding talks over a potential sale to oligarch Alexander Mamut, a wealthy businessmen best known in Britain as the backer of blogging website LiveJournal. Mamut has already built a 6.1 per cent stake in [...]
Odd jobs December 22, 2010 IT’S a busy time for us, the run up to Christmas, because we have six companies coming in for their carol concerts, big banks and law firms, and the local school also comes. Midnight mass on Christmas eve is the big one for us, and that is mostly for locals, we get about 150 or [...]
Thorntons in profit warning as sales falter February 16, 2011 THORNTONS issued a profit warning yesterday, becoming the latest retailer to flag a worsening consumer environment and announce plans to close stores as spending habits change. The chocolatier, which has 371 owned stores and 229 franchise outlets, said profit before tax and one-off items fell 8.5 per cent to £8.3m in the 28 weeks to [...]