High street faces chilly week ahead as disappointing festive trading updates expected January 6, 2019 High street retailers are expected to be further under the cosh by the end of the week, with a flurry of quarterly trading updates due in the coming days. Troubled department store Marks and Spencer is one of several set to reveal yet another fall in sales over the festive period, according to analysts at [...]
Retail administrations rise for the second consecutive year January 5, 2019 The number of retail administrations has risen for the second year in a row after 125 retailers collapsed in 2018. Administrations rose six per cent last year from 118 in 2017, and 26 of the retailers that collapsed were large brands, compared to 17 the year before. There was a 53 per cent increase in [...]
Westfield Stratford and Westfield London boost Christmas shopping footfall January 4, 2019 Westfield London and Stratford City saw record festive footfall this year, helping to dispel fears of retail gloom over the Christmas period. Christmas footfall was up 11 per cent year-on-year with 15.6m visitors visiting the centres from the start of November, the owner of the two shopping centres, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, announced today, while Boxing Day shoppers hit 350,000 [...]
Shop price inflation grows in December despite Christmas discounting January 4, 2019 Shop price inflation rose in December as festive discounting failed to keep prices down for stretched consumers. Overall inflation rose to 0.3 per cent last month, up from 0.1 per cent in November and the highest rate of inflation since April 2013. It is only the fourth month of inflation in the last five years, according [...]
US stocks tumble as Apple slump and trade war fears trigger market rout January 3, 2019 A fresh wave of paranoia has spread across Wall Street triggered by Apple’s slump and mounting fears of an global economic slowdown. Sentiment worsened as US manufacturing activity slowed to a two-year low after a sharp drop in new orders in December, helping knock more than 550 points off the Dow Jones during an unforgiving [...]
Wall Street shares plummet after Apple warning over China slowdown January 3, 2019 Wall Street shares have plummeted in response to Apple’s warning over a slowdown in China. All three major US indices tumbled on opening as Apple’s nine per cent fall caused another painful day for investors. The tech giant said lower demand for its products in China and the country’s economic deceleration were to blame for [...]
Booming video games industry makes up half the UK entertainment market January 3, 2019 The video games sector now accounts for more than half the UK’s entertainment market and is bigger than video and music combined, new figures have revealed. The booming games industry is worth £3.86bn, more than double its value in 2007, and now makes up over 51 per cent of the entire UK entertainment market, according [...]
Luxury retailers hit by Apple warning over Chinese slowdown January 3, 2019 Shares in luxury retailers have plunged after Apple blamed a Chinese economic slowdown for its worse than expected sales performance. The tech giant said lower demand for its products in China and the country’s economic deceleration were to blame for its second revenue warning last night. Luxury retailers have subsequently suffered as analysts said investors [...]
Record digital sales of The Greatest Showman boost UK home entertainment market January 3, 2019 Hit movie The Greatest Showman helped the UK home entertainment market grow by 10 per cent in 2018, new figures have revealed. The popular musical, which stars Hugh Jackman as the head of a circus troupe, was the best-selling film of the year, with more than 2.7m copies sold. A majority of the film's sales [...]
Apple’s sales warning hits European stocks as it places the blame on China January 3, 2019 Apple sent shockwaves through global markets last night after it issued a second consecutive warning against its sales performance, causing suppliers' stocks, European markets and emerging currencies to spiral. Chief executive Tim Cook cut Apple's quarterly sales target late last night, blaming weak iPhone sales in China and fewer customers upgrading their iPhones in an open [...]