Wealthy UK cities showing resilience to retail downturn October 28, 2019 A group of wealthy cities such as London and Cambridge are faring relatively well during the UK retail sector’s downturn while shops in poorer and more rural areas suffer, a new report has said. Read more: Retailers brace for tough Christmas as confidence slumps Shopping parks have also shown resilience as the bricks-and-mortar retail sector [...]
Telegraph managers prepare bid as media group goes up for sale October 27, 2019 Suitors will be starting to line up bids for the Telegraph this week as the billionaire Barclay brothers prepare to sell the newspaper group. A group of former senior managers at the Telegraph are among City figures circling, and are looking for backers to bid for the media group, the Sunday Times reported. Read more: [...]
TK Maxx defies retail gloom as sales top £3bn October 25, 2019 Budget retailer TK Maxx topped £3bn in sales in the last year, shrugging off high street woes with a rise in profit. US group TJX US, which is the parent owner of the fashion group, has reported a 6.4 per cent rise in sales to £3.1bn in the 12 months to February 2019. Read more: [...]
Amazon shares slump after online retailer posts third-quarter profit drop October 24, 2019 Shares in online retail giant Amazon slumped in after-hours trading this evening after the firm reported a slump in third-quarter profit. Shares in Jeff Bezos’ company fell as much as eight per cent after it posted a fall in net income for the first time in two years, from $2.88bn to $2.13bn in the three [...]
Supercuts owner Regis UK calls in administrators October 24, 2019 Supercuts owner Regis UK has appointed administrators as the hair salon chain becomes the latest victim of a challenging retail environment. Regis UK, which trades under the Regis and Supercuts brands, entered insolvency yesterday and appointed Deloitte as administrator, Sky News reported. Read more: Supercuts owner Regis UK asks landlords to slash rents The move [...]
Major UK retailers suffer plunging in-store profit margins October 23, 2019 Major UK retailers have suffered plunging store-based profit margins as operating costs soar in an increasingly challenging market. Store-based profit margins for the top 150 UK retailers have more than halved in less than a decade, dropping from 8.8 per cent in 2009/10 to 4.1 per cent in 2017/18. Read more: UK retail sales flat [...]
US equity outlook – more gains to come? October 22, 2019 The S&P 500 is near record highs, the US economy continues to grow, and the Fed is gently cutting rates in order to help sustain the expansion. Yet sentiment remains fragile at best. Investors are it seems determined to find the ‘next 2008’ at every turn, fretting that a US recession is near and that [...]
Reckitt Benckiser issues second profit warning of the year amid slump in flu medicine sales October 22, 2019 Household goods producer Reckitt Benckiser has slashed its sales forecast for the second time this year, blaming a drought in retail orders of seasonal products as it adapts to life under a new chief executive. Shares fell five per cent in early trading as the firm, which makes Durex condoms and Lysol disinfectant, said it [...]
Saks owner Hudson’s Bay agrees to go private October 21, 2019 Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), the owner of New York department store Saks Fifth Avenue, has agreed to be bought by a group of investors led by its executive chairman. The investor consortium led by Richard Baker, who currently owns 6.32 per cent of the firm, has made an offer to buy the shares of HBC [...]
Industrial real estate funds to double inflows October 21, 2019 Global industrial real estate funds could double the amount they raise this year as investors target warehouse and logistics assets. Research showed that specialist industrial property funds are projected to raise $6.4bn in 2019, up 120 per cent from inflows of $2.9bn last year driven by the yield available on logistics property. Read more: Land [...]