McDonald’s trials social distancing measures ahead of reopening April 28, 2020 McDonald’s will trial reopening its restaurants behind closed doors this week as the fast food giant prepares for life after lockdown. The company said it will carry out some operational tests this week to “explore what our reopening might look like”. The restaurant will remain closed to the public while tests are carried out. McDonald’s [...]
Tesco expands online order capacity to 1m slots a week during coronavirus crisis April 28, 2020 Tesco has expanded its online shopping capacity to 1m slots, almost double the number of orders the supermarket was able to fulfil before the coronavirus crisis. The grocer, which previously had between 500,000 and 600,000 slots available each week, will expand its capacity further to 1.2m orders per week as demand for deliveries continues to [...]
Coronavirus: UK retailers have worst month since 2008 April 28, 2020 UK retailers suffered the biggest fall in sales since the financial crisis in 2008 in the first two months of April as coronavirus lockdown measures battered the sector, a survey has shown. Every part of the retail sector was hit hard this month, according to the CBI’s distributive trades survey. Even grocers and specialist food [...]
Travis Perkins revenue down two thirds due to coronavirus April 28, 2020 Building materials supplier Travis Perkins suffered a sharp drop in revenue in April after it closed its branches in response to the UK’s coronavirus lockdown. Total revenue in the first three weeks of the month was about one third of the same period last year due to the coronavirus pandemic. The company shut all of [...]
Coronavirus pandemic ‘worse than financial crisis’ for UK retail sector April 28, 2020 The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the high street has been worse than the aftermath of the financial crisis, experts said as UK retail health plunged to record lows. The retail health index by KPMG and Ipsos fell three points to 71 in the first quarter of the year – a new record low. [...]
Guinness owner Diageo to raise $2.5bn through bond offering April 28, 2020 Guinness owner Diageo plans to raise $2.5bn through a bond offering, weeks after it was forced to scrap its share buyback scheme due to the coronavirus pandemic. The drinks giant, which also owns Smirnoff vodka and Johnnie Walker whisky, said the bond offering consisted of $750m 1.375 per cent fixed rate notes due 2025, $1bn [...]
Marks & Spencer scraps 2021 dividend and warns of prolonged coronavirus disruption April 28, 2020 Marks & Spencer (M&S) has cancelled next year’s dividend in order to save £210m as the retailer warned of prolonged disruption to trading. The high street giant said it was preparing a “never the same again” programme to make permanent changes to ways of working, which will be unveiled when the company publishes its full-year [...]
Games Workshop forecasts profit fall as it secures £25m overdraft April 28, 2020 Games Workshop today said it has secured a £25m overdraft as the model maker warned the coronavirus crisis would take its toll on full-year profit. The Warhammer owner said the majority of its stores remained closed due to the pandemic, but it will resume online orders from 1 May. As a result, the retailer forecast [...]
Shoppers spend extra £524m at UK supermarkets in April April 28, 2020 Shoppers spent an extra £524m at UK supermarkets during the coronavirus lockdown compared to April last year. Grocery sales soared 9.1 per cent in the 12 weeks to 19 April, which were £524m higher in the past four weeks than they were in April 2019. Households made a record low 14 trips to UK supermarkets [...]
UK events industry calls for access to government support amid business collapse fears April 27, 2020 The UK events industry has urged the government to provide clarification on the financial support available for the sector, amid concerns that thousands of businesses could collapse over the next three months. Chancellor Rishi Sunak confirmed in the House of Commons last month that event hire firms are eligible for the business rates holiday and [...]