Nike’s Dutch tax status to be investigated by European Commission January 10, 2019 The European Commission has opened a detailed probe into whether Nike has received an unfair advantage over its competitors by being granted a favourable tax environment in the Netherlands. The Commission said the Netherlands issued five tax rulings since 2006, two of which are still active, which endorsed a method of calculating royalty payments that "may not reflect [...]
Retail’s Super Thursday: The good, the bad and the ugly January 10, 2019 Today's so-called Super Thursday delivered a very mixed shopping basket of retail results, from some fresh bargains ready to be snapped up to others in danger of being labelled as out of date. Tesco, John Lewis, DFS, Debenhams and more released their results on a day dubbed Super Thursday, but which coincided with a dire [...]
Tesco works on stockpiling arrangements in Brexit contingency plans January 10, 2019 Tesco is making arrangements to stockpile goods as part of the supermarket’s Brexit contingency planning, the UK's biggest supermarket confirmed today. The UK’s biggest retailer is working with suppliers to devise plans to hold stock closer to the market, and said that sensible contingency plans are in place. Read more: Tesco sees like-for-like sales boost in [...]
Luke Johnson faces fresh troubles as Brighton Pier shares sink on falling profits January 10, 2019 Patisserie Valerie boss Luke Johnson faced more headaches this morning after a profit warning from his company that runs Brighton Pier. Shares in Brighton Pier Group, which runs the iconic pier as well as other leisure sites, collapsed 30 per cent on Thursday on the news profits were expected to be 18 per cent lower [...]
Debenhams’ Christmas sales slip as it continues talks with lenders over its future January 10, 2019 Sales at troubled department store chain Debenhams dived over Christmas, its latest trading update revealed today, sending its share price even lower. In the 18 weeks to 5 January like-for-like sales fell 5.7 per cent compared to the same period last year. Read more: These are the high street retailers that collapsed in 2018 The [...]
Essential consumer spending slows as shoppers balance Christmas budgets January 10, 2019 Essential consumer spending growth in December fell to the lowest rate in more than two years as shoppers attempted to balance Christmas budgets. Spending on essential goods grew 1.8 per cent year-on-year last month, representing a contraction in real terms, according to data from Barclaycard. Clothing spending fell by three per cent and expenditure in department [...]
Card Factory reports flat sales for the full year amid challenging retail conditions January 10, 2019 Card Factory today reported a marginal slip in sales amid a tough consumer environment for high street retailers. The greeting card specialist said like-for-like sales dipped 0.1 per cent in the 11 months to the end of December, down from a three per cent increase the year before. The firm saw revenue growth of 3.4 [...]
Bike crash: Halfords share price plummets as mild weather and consumer confidence hit profits January 10, 2019 Shares in Halford have dropped through the floor as the company said mild weather and weak consumer confidence were set to hit its bottom line. The bikes and car parts seller said it was reducing expected profit before tax of between £58m and £62m, far down from November estimates that profit would be broadly in [...]
DFS reports sales growth but warns on political uncertainty January 10, 2019 Furniture retailer DFS has reported underlying gross sales growth of 10 per cent in a trading update this morning as it announced that chief financial officer Nicola Bancroft has stepped down. The company also reported 22 per cent growth in online gross sales, and maintained its full-year profit expectations. DFS said trading in the five [...]
John Lewis considers slashing staff bonus as it warns on full-year profits January 10, 2019 John Lewis today said it may axe its staff bonus this year as it warned of falling profits, despite a rise in sales over the Christmas period. The department store saw sales increase 1.4 per cent to £2.2bn in the seven weeks to 5 January compared to the same period last year. Like-for-like sales at [...]