Mulberry profit takes a hit as luxury brand invests in global expansion June 28, 2023 Mulberry’s pretax profit slumped in the year, despite an uptick in revenue, as increasing costs weighed on performance. In the year to April, the luxury handbag maker reported an underlying profit of £2.5m, down from £14.6m last year. On a reported basis its pretax profit was £13.2m, which took into account impairment reversals on some [...]
Boots to shut 300 UK stores despite stronger sales June 28, 2023 Boots has said it will shut 300 of its stores across Britain over the next year. The historic retailer revealed the raft of closures despite posting stronger sales over the latest quarter. The move, which it said will impact stores in close proximity to other sites, will reduce its store estate from 2,200 to 1,900 [...]
London fintech Upp. pockets $10m as it eyes global expansion June 27, 2023 London-based fintech Upp. has secured $10m (£7.8m) in seed funding as its artificial intelligence and machine learning model wins over investors. The startup, which uses AI to automate online retail, has garnered support in a funding round spearheaded by Californian venture capital firm Bonfire Ventures. Mark Mullen, co-founder of Bonfire Ventures, said Upp. is “the [...]
Own-brand buys and No7 skincare boosts sales for Boots June 27, 2023 Boots has revealed a surge in online shoppers and people opting for own-brand labels has driven up sales over the latest quarter. The pharmacy and retail chain said its own ranges have been flying off the shelves as consumers hunt down value. It came as its US owner, Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), revealed its net [...]
JD Sports: Share price sinks six per cent on market ‘softening’ warning June 27, 2023 JD Sports told investors this morning that profit is on track to smash through the billion-pound mark this year as the athleisure giant continues its expansion – but a warning on some ‘softening’ has nonetheless spooked investors. Ahead of its AGM today, the ‘king of trainers’ said trading remained positive during May – posting organic [...]
Primark owner ABF thanks sunny spells, digital push and inflation for 13 per cent sales hike June 26, 2023 Primark owner Associated British Foods (ABF), has credited warm weather and a revamp of the affordable fashion brands website for a 13 per cent rise in sales – hiking its share price 0.61 per cent when markets opened this morning. The retail giant which also brand such as Twinings, said like for like sales grew [...]
The Notebook: Sir Rocco Forte on the hated tourist tax, counteracting climate hysteria and Boris Johnson’s legacy June 26, 2023 The Notebook is a column where interesting people say interesting things. Today, it’s hotel industry giant Sir Rocco Forte, chairman of Rocco Forte Hotels My hotels in Italy, Germany and Belgium are booming. But occupancy in London is not what it was last year nor what we saw pre-pandemic. Official statistics bear this out, showing [...]
Lidl gets injunction over Tesco trademark infringement – and it could cost UK’s biggest grocer £8m June 23, 2023 German-owned discount supermarket Lidl can have an injunction to stop rival Tesco copying its logo, London’s High Court has ruled, despite hearing it will cost Tesco nearly £8m pounds to remove them all. Britain’s biggest retailer Tesco in April lost a trademark lawsuit brought by Lidl after Tesco adopted a yellow circle against a blue [...]
FTSE 100: London markets dip as investors fret over interest rate pain June 23, 2023 London’s premier FTSE 100 index has tumbled at the open this morning as investors grapple with the Bank of England’s move to hike rates to their highest level in 15 years yesterday.
Revolution Beauty looks to soothe jitters amid Boohoo boardroom bust-up June 23, 2023 Revolution Beauty has looked to soothe investor jitters with a trading update today after an attempted boardroom coup from e-commerce Boohoo earlier this week. London-listed beauty group Revolution has been embroiled in a row with Boohoo after a “hostile” attempt from the firm to place its own candidates on its board earlier this week. Revolution [...]