WH Smith pursuing sale of high street business January 25, 2025 WH Smith is in talks to sell its high street arm, as the £1.5bn company looks to focus entirely on its travel retail business. The company’s high street operation is made up of about 500 stores, employing around 5,000 people. “WH Smith confirms that it is exploring potential strategic options for this profitable and cash [...]
The Works: Arts and crafts retailer slashes losses as new strategy unveiled January 24, 2025 High street arts and crafts retailer The Works reported a significant improvement in profitability for the first half of its financial year, as it unveiled a new strategy. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) showed a market improvement, with losses narrowing from £8.5m to £2.8m since the same period last year. Adjusted [...]
Business rates to more than double in ‘final blow’ to UK retailers January 21, 2025 Business rates are set to rise more than 140 per cent for thousands of high street businesses across the UK in yet another cost pressure for brick-and-mortar businesses. Business rates, which are levied on all commercial properties, were cut by 75 per cent in 2022 as high street stores found themselves unable to cope during [...]
Boots warns of higher Budget costs amid sales surge January 10, 2025 High street pharmacy giant Boots has warned it faces “heightened cost pressures” in 2025 following the Autumn Budget as it revealed strong sales towards the end of last year. The new boss of the Nottingham-headquartered company, Anthony Hemmerdinger, added that while Boots has come under increased pressure, “the business is focused on navigating these and [...]
Greggs: Sausage roll-maker passes two milestones despite ‘subdued’ footfall January 9, 2025 Greggs reported a record-breaking year in 2024 as the sausage-roll maker surpassed two key milestones, but warned on headwinds in 2025 after “subdued” footfall. In an update to markets today, the high street bakery reported an 11.2 per cent uptick in total sales, which sprung the company upwards of its sales milestone of £2bn. However, [...]
Next: FTSE 100 retailer hikes profit guidance but warns on costs January 7, 2025 Retail industry bellwether Next has upgraded its profit outlook for the year after sales and growth exceeded expectations during the Golden Quarter. The FTSE 100 company hiked its expected profit by five per cent as sales jumped six per cent in the nine weeks to 28 December, nearly double its previous guidance of 3.5 per cent. [...]
Retail gloom as festive season fails to save 2024 trading January 7, 2025 High street stores showed anaemic growth in the 2024 festive season, despite hopes that Christmas trading would inject some cheer into the sector. Sales grew just 0.3 per cent overall in the ‘golden quarter’, which includes Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC). Online sales continued to beat in-store, [...]
Post-Christmas shopping to rise as bargain-hunters ’emerge’ – analyst December 28, 2024 Post-Christmas shopping is expected to pick up on Friday after data showed there were fewer consumers hitting the high streets for Boxing Day bargains. By midday on Friday, footfall at shops across the country was eight per cent higher than the same day last year, according to retail analysts MRI Software. It follows refreshed figures [...]
UK retail sales rise slightly in November amid concern over golden quarter December 20, 2024 The latest ONS data showed retail sales jumped 0.2 per cent last month, following a 0.7 per cent fall in October.
The future of the high street lies within collaboration, not competition December 6, 2024 What was once a shopping experience to look forward to has become a memory for many: will the high street ever feel the same? For quite some time, the online and in-store worlds have been competing over the same simple access to products, for better or for worse. Since the pandemic, consumers have gravitated towards [...]