Demand for strawberries and cider help grocery sales surge July 23, 2025 Sales at UK supermarkets surged in June as shoppers splashed out on summer staples like strawberries and cider. Total till sales growth at the grocers soared 5.8 per cent in the four weeks ending July 12, up from 3.8 per cent growth in June, according to new data released today by NielsenIQ (NIQ). “With three [...]
Price rises help boost Colgate sales and profit July 23, 2025 Price rises helped the owner of the Colgate toothpaste brand boost its sales and profit in 2024 as it sought to mitigate the increase in costs. The UK arm of Colgate-Palmolve has posted a revenue of £362.3m for its latest financial year, up from the £334.3m it achieved in 2023. New accounts filed with Companies [...]
Rolls-Royce banking on bespoke cars to attract super-rich July 23, 2025 Wealthy buyers seeking to personalise their new Rolls-Royce helped boost the luxury car brand’s profit in 2024 despite falling sales. The Hampshire-based business, which is owned by BMW, said its bespoke service reached a record level last year with a 10 per cent increase on average per car year-on-year. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars added the rise [...]
‘Irresponsible’ M&S ad gets banned for promoting ‘unhealthily thin’ models July 23, 2025 The UK’s advertising watchdog has upheld a complaint that Marks and Spencers used an “unhealthily thin” model to advertise clothes on its app. In its ruling on the M&S ad, the Advertising Standard Authority (ASA) said the model “appeared unhealthily thin” and concluded that the ad was “irresponsible.” “The pose of the model and the [...]
Luxury watch crime ‘remains a threat’ but recovery rates improve July 22, 2025 The theft of luxury watches remains a significant risk for owners despite the rate of recovery jumping in the last year, according to new data. In the first six months of 2025, The Watch Register located 607 lost and stolen watches through its global database, a 26 per cent increase on the same period in [...]
The Works: Shares triple in value after ‘living to fight another day’ July 22, 2025 Shares in The Works have more than tripled in price in the space of four months after recovering from investors questioning “its relevancy in modern retail”. Stock in the West Midlands-headquartered company was priced at 20p towards the end of March but their value has rocketed since then and are now changing hands for more [...]
Decathlon: Losses almost double amid ‘significant transformation’ July 22, 2025 Losses almost doubled at Decathlon during its latest financial year as a “significant transformation” impacted its sales. The retailer has reported a pre-tax loss of £23.7m for 2024, according to new accounts filed with Companies House. The total comes after Decathlon also posted a loss of £11.9m for 2023. The business last achieved a pre-tax [...]
Food inflation could push annual grocery bills up by £275 July 22, 2025 Food inflation surged in June as the prices of dairy and fresh meat products skyrocketed. Grocery price inflation hit its highest level since January 2024 at 5.2 per cent in the four weeks to 13 July, according to Kantar. The average household spend at the grocers has now reached £5,283 a year, which could add [...]
Ministers urged to reinstate tax-free shopping to deliver Brexit boost July 22, 2025 Ministers have been urged to reinstate tax-free purchases for international visitors to make the UK a ‘global shopping capital’ and help the country benefit from its position outside the EU. “With Britain no longer in the EU, we have the opportunity to become the best place in the world for shopping,” Derrick Hardman, chair of [...]
Reckitt sells majority stake in Air Wick and Cillit Bang arm July 18, 2025 Reckitt Benckiser has agreed to sell its Essential Home business to private equity investor Advent International for $4.8bn (£3.6bn). Essential Home includes the brands Air Wick, Calgon, Woolite and Cillit Bang. The FTSE 100 giant, which will retain a 30 per cent equity stake in the business, has been reshaping its business to focus on “11 high-growth, high-margin [...]