Mark Kleinman’s big predictions for the Square Mile in 2019 January 11, 2019 Sir Martin Sorrell’s WPP exit, Unilever’s HQ U-turn, Melrose’s swoop for GKN: 2018 was a year full of surprises in the City. And while forecasting might be a fool’s errand, here are 10 predictions for the year ahead. •Theresa May will decisively lose next week’s “meaningful vote” on Brexit: that’s not a punt that will [...]
Super Thursday: Embattled retailers could learn from the Tesco turnaround plan January 10, 2019 It wasn’t only children who traditionally looked forward to Christmas: time was when Yuletide sales could be guaranteed to give a substantial boost to Britain’s retailers. No longer. A slew of dismal results published today showed Christmas figures sharply down for a number of household names including M&S and Debenhams, in what the British Retail [...]
Mike Ashley loses patience with Debenhams, pushing chair and chief executive from board January 10, 2019 Mike Ashley, the chief executive of Sports Direct, has dramatically shaken up the top leadership of Debenhams, blocking the reappointment of the company’s chair and chief executive to its board during its annual general meeting this afternoon. Sir Ian Cheshire, chair of the retailer’s board since 2016, informed the company he would step down with immediate [...]
Retail’s Super Thursday: The good, the bad and the ugly January 10, 2019 Today's so-called Super Thursday delivered a very mixed shopping basket of retail results, from some fresh bargains ready to be snapped up to others in danger of being labelled as out of date. Tesco, John Lewis, DFS, Debenhams and more released their results on a day dubbed Super Thursday, but which coincided with a dire [...]
Tesco works on stockpiling arrangements in Brexit contingency plans January 10, 2019 Tesco is making arrangements to stockpile goods as part of the supermarket’s Brexit contingency planning, the UK's biggest supermarket confirmed today. The UK’s biggest retailer is working with suppliers to devise plans to hold stock closer to the market, and said that sensible contingency plans are in place. Read more: Tesco sees like-for-like sales boost in [...]
Outflows from UK funds hit highest level since the EU referendum January 10, 2019 Outflows from UK funds in November hit the highest level since the EU referendum. Net retail sales were negative, with outflows totalling £2.1bn – the most since the 2016 Brexit vote – as investor caution increased due to international trade tensions, Brexit and market volatility, according to the latest figures from the Investment Association. Fixed income [...]
Debenhams’ Christmas sales slip as it continues talks with lenders over its future January 10, 2019 Sales at troubled department store chain Debenhams dived over Christmas, its latest trading update revealed today, sending its share price even lower. In the 18 weeks to 5 January like-for-like sales fell 5.7 per cent compared to the same period last year. Read more: These are the high street retailers that collapsed in 2018 The [...]
Essential consumer spending slows as shoppers balance Christmas budgets January 10, 2019 Essential consumer spending growth in December fell to the lowest rate in more than two years as shoppers attempted to balance Christmas budgets. Spending on essential goods grew 1.8 per cent year-on-year last month, representing a contraction in real terms, according to data from Barclaycard. Clothing spending fell by three per cent and expenditure in department [...]
Card Factory reports flat sales for the full year amid challenging retail conditions January 10, 2019 Card Factory today reported a marginal slip in sales amid a tough consumer environment for high street retailers. The greeting card specialist said like-for-like sales dipped 0.1 per cent in the 11 months to the end of December, down from a three per cent increase the year before. The firm saw revenue growth of 3.4 [...]
Bike crash: Halfords share price plummets as mild weather and consumer confidence hit profits January 10, 2019 Shares in Halford have dropped through the floor as the company said mild weather and weak consumer confidence were set to hit its bottom line. The bikes and car parts seller said it was reducing expected profit before tax of between £58m and £62m, far down from November estimates that profit would be broadly in [...]