Hotel Chocolat secures £25m coronavirus loan as disruption expected until end of 2020 May 4, 2020 Hotel Chocolat announced this morning it has secured a £25m coronavirus large business interruption loan (CLBIL) as it warned that the pandemic could continue to impact trading throughout the rest of 2020. The high street retailer said it had agreed a £35m revolving credit facility with Lloyds Bank, replacing its previous £10m overdraft facility. The [...]
Amazon and Apple earnings: Covid-19 crashes the tech titan party May 1, 2020 It’s been a busy week for Silicon Valley as the major US tech firms lined up to report earnings for the first quarter. Google, Facebook and Twitter all delivered upbeat figures, proving that social media services are well-placed to weather the Covid-19 storm. But the mood was dampened somewhat last night as coronavirus costs weighed [...]
Barratt Developments to restart construction work this month May 1, 2020 Housebuilder Barratt Developments will restart work on construction sites this month after temporarily closing operations during the coronavirus lockdown. Work to implement social distancing measures will begin on 11 May, after which Barratt will restart building work across 180 of its construction sites, representing 50 per cent of its sites. The developer this morning said [...]
High street jobs lost as no buyer found for Oasis and Warehouse stores April 30, 2020 Oasis and Warehouse have become the latest high street casualties of the coronavirus crisis after administrators were unable to find a buyer for the stores, resulting in 1,803 redundancies. The retailer’s intellectual property assets and certain stock have been sold to Hilco Capital. The group, which includes the Oasis, Warehouse and The Idle Man brands, [...]
Shoppers wary about life after lockdown as restrictions cost UK retailers £2.7bn a week April 30, 2020 Most shoppers are wary about hitting the high street when the coronavirus lockdown is relaxed, the latest research indicated, as it was revealed that UK retailers have lost out on £2.7bn in sales each week. The lockdown, which forced all non-essential UK retailers to close from 23 March, has cost the industry £2.7bn in lost [...]
Tory MP calls on government to extend job retention scheme April 29, 2020 A Conservative London MP has called on the government to extend the job retention scheme that pays “furloughed” workers’ wages to help businesses hit by a plunge in international visitors. Nickie Aiken, MP for Cities of London and Westminster, and the Association of International Retail have written to chancellor Rishi Sunak to say that businesses [...]
Next warns sales could drop 40 per cent this year after steeper decline than expected April 29, 2020 High street retailer Next warned this morning that full-year sales could dive as much as 40 per cent after the impact of coronavirus on trading was “faster and steeper” than expected. Next’s share price dropped as much as four per cent after the retailer said total full price sales including interest income were down 38 [...]
Dixons Carphone scraps dividend but reports strong online trading during coronavirus lockdown April 29, 2020 Dixons Carphone will not pay a dividend to shareholders this year due to the coronavirus crisis, the company said this morning as it reported strong online trading during the lockdown. The retailer said its closed stores in the UK, Ireland and Greece would have been expected to contribute an extra £400m this year. However, online [...]
Coronavirus: UK retailers have worst month since 2008 April 28, 2020 UK retailers suffered the biggest fall in sales since the financial crisis in 2008 in the first two months of April as coronavirus lockdown measures battered the sector, a survey has shown. Every part of the retail sector was hit hard this month, according to the CBI’s distributive trades survey. Even grocers and specialist food [...]
Coronavirus pandemic ‘worse than financial crisis’ for UK retail sector April 28, 2020 The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the high street has been worse than the aftermath of the financial crisis, experts said as UK retail health plunged to record lows. The retail health index by KPMG and Ipsos fell three points to 71 in the first quarter of the year – a new record low. [...]