Great Portland Estates sells London’s 50 Finsbury Square freehold for £190m October 4, 2022 Great Portland Estates (GPE) has sold the freehold of 50 Finsbury Square to German family office Wirtgen Invest Holding for £190m. The deal, in which proceeds will be pumped into GPE’s credit facility, represents a capital value of £1,471 per square feet. The Fosters & Partners designed office block will have its “comprehensive” refurbishment completed [...]
Frasers edges closer to MySale takeover October 3, 2022 Frasers Group has inched further towards a takeover of My Sale, after snaring a 50 per cent stake in the Australian e-commerce firm. The Sports Direct owner upped its stake in the business, after snaring 100,000,000 MySale shares from investment firm Jackson Family Capital and 62,145,385 MySale shares from former vice-chairman and founder of the [...]
Made.com posts widening losses after furniture retailer puts itself up for sale September 29, 2022 Online furniture seller Made.com has posted widening losses after consumers slowdown on buying homeware items amid the cost of living crunch. The company posted a loss before tax of £35.3m for the six months to 30 June, versus £10.1m a year prior. Earlier this week, Made said it would conduct a strategic review of its [...]
H&M to trim costs by £160m after profit dented by Russia exit September 29, 2022 H&M has said it is looking to slash costs to the tune of £160m after posting weaker than expected quarterly profit. The second largest apparel retailer saw its share price sink by almost four per cent on Thursday afternoon, after revealing a cost-cutting blitz in its third quarter results. For the June-August period, pre-tax profit [...]
Next boss warns of two cost of living crises after slashing forecasts September 29, 2022 Next has slashed its sales forecasts for the second half of the year today despite a 16 per cent jump in pre-tax profit in the six months to July.
Cost of living crunch sinks teeth into Morrisons profit September 28, 2022 Morrisons has posted sliding sales after the retailer was recently knocked out of the Big Four by discounter rival Aldi. In financial results for the 13 weeks to 31 July, the group posted like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, down 3.1 per cent on the comparable period a year ago. The supermarket pointed to “unprecedented inflationary pressures” [...]
Lego builds on sales surge as profits hit £750m September 28, 2022 The Lego group revealed a 17 per cent surge in revenues in the first six months of the year as it beat expectations with net profit of DKK 6.2bn (£750m).
Exclusive: City insider urges retail not to make knee-jerk cuts in ad budgets September 27, 2022 Recent figures show retail is feeling the effects of the cost of living crisis. Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show a 0.5 per cent drop in spending last month, with a 1.6 per cent decrease in food sales. As a result, many businesses are under so much pressure they have no choice but to [...]
Despite economic gloom more than 800,000 new firms were created this year September 26, 2022 More than 800,000 new firms were created this year despite economic turmoil and grim prospects for the immediate future. Online shopping was a key driver for the 98,000 new retailers which popped up in wake of the pandemic, as Covid unleashed a wave of entrepreneurialism. Figures from private equity firm Growthdeck show 808,000 new businesses [...]
Matalan recruits ex-New Look boss as sale of fashion chain launched September 26, 2022 Matalan has brought in a former New Look chief as it announces the start of a strategic sales process. Nigel Oddy will join the fashion retailer as interim CEO from the start of next month, after leaving the high street chain in June. Oddy will help to deliver a growth strategy and reposition the brand [...]