Confidence boost for UK shoppers fails to improve high street retail sales March 11, 2025 High street retail sales continued to fall in February despite a confidence boost for UK consumers, a survey has found. Overall, retail sales increased by 1.1 per cent in February, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC).However, this was driven by food sales, which grew 2.3 per cent year-on-year. Non-food sales were flat in February, [...]
Boots to be taken over by US private equity firm in $10bn deal March 7, 2025 Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), the owner of Boots, has agreed to a $10bn (£7.8bn) takeover by a US private equity firm. Sycamore Partners is expected to complete the takeover by the end of the year. The US-listed WBA said of the deal: “[Sycamore’s] experience in retail and consumer services would ensure WBA was better positioned [...]
Ocado: CEO pay jumps despite heavy losses and flagging share price March 6, 2025 The chief executive of Ocado has seen his pay jump despite continuing heavy losses at the technology and grocery platform. Tim Steiner took home more than £2.6m for his company’s latest financial year, a rise from the £1.9m he was awarded in the prior 12 months. The increase was mainly driven by a rise in [...]
Jollyes sinks further into the red despite sales surge at Pets at Home rival March 5, 2025 Jollyes has sunk further into the red despite its sales continuing to surge as it attempts to increase its rivalry with Pets at Home. The company has posted a pre-tax loss of £13.3m for the year to 26 May, 2024, after having also made a £5.3m loss in the prior 12 months. However, newly-filed accounts [...]
Brits spent almost £1bn this Valentines Day March 5, 2025 Brits spent almost £1bn on flowers, gifts, and at-home meals this Valentine’s Day as shoppers sought to create a special occasion at home rather than splashing out at a restaurant. According to the latest NIQ Till Tracker, £962m was spent on food and gifting on Valentine’s Day, with the biggest growth in spending on flowers, [...]
Supermarket sales rise, but Asda continues to struggle March 4, 2025 Sales at UK supermarkets rose above inflation in February as Brits looked for cost-effective ways to treat themselves. Take-home sales at the grocers rose by 3.6 per cent over the four weeks to 23 February, while prices rose 3.3 per cent, according to Kantar. However, the headline figure masked a gulf between the performance of [...]
Lower retail prices drive shops into deflation March 4, 2025 Prices in UK shops continued to fall in February, as discounting in retail offset high grocery prices. Shop prices fell by 0.7 per cent year on year in February against a decline of 0.7 per cent in January, driven by a 2.1 per cent drop in retail prices. “Discounting is still widespread in fashion as [...]
Oak Furnitureland battles rising costs as sales cut March 3, 2025 Oak Furnitureland remains in the red as a catalogue of issues impacted its sales during its latest financial year. The Swindon-headquartered retailer has revealed its revenue fell by 17 per cent to £236m in the 12 months to the end of June 2024 because of “a soft market, the Red Sea disruption and the subsequent [...]
Pukka Pies: Price rises ‘inevitable’ at chip shop favourite March 3, 2025 Chip shop favourite Pukka Pies has warned prices rises are “inevitable” as it battles “significant levels of power and labour inflation”. The Leicester-headquartered company said it delayed increasing its prices during its latest financial year “assess the mid to long-term implications from the underlying inflation” but has since concluded that rises should be introduced. The [...]
Concern for British high street deepens with flat February sales February 28, 2025 Online shopping drove retail sales in February, offsetting flat in-store sales on the high street. In-store sales were lower in real terms in February, meaning that actual sales volumes shrank year on year, according to accountancy and business advisory firm BDO. Total like-for-like sales grew by 2.3 per cent in February. Retailers faced particularly challenging [...]