Whistles recorded a £2.9m loss before its takeover by South Africa’s Foschini Group earlier this year November 13, 2016 Upmarket womenswear retailer Whistles recorded a loss of £2.9m ahead of its takeover by South Africa’s Foschini Group in March. Accounts filed at Companies House show that in the 12 months up to 30 January, Whistles's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) fell from a profit of £1.9m in 2015 to a loss of [...]
Black Friday: Rumours, deals and speculation at retailers including Amazon, Argos and Tesco November 11, 2016 Ah, Black Friday. It may have started as an American tradition – but in recent years it's become more British than watching the Queen's speech while wearing a jauntily-angled Christmas cracker hat. This year, Black Friday falls on 25 November. But sharpen those elbows, people, because the Black Friday 'period' begins NEXT WEEK. Here's what retailers [...]
Alibaba smashes record sales on Singles Day November 11, 2016 E-commerce giant Alibaba has topped its sales record for its annual Singles Day savings event in China. The biggest retail event in the world totted up $1bn worth of sales in the first five minutes, the retailer claimed, and by 20 hours in had reached $15bn (£12bn) as people snapped up bargains in its annual sale. Total [...]
Singles Day: What can British retailers learn from China’s version of Black Friday? November 11, 2016 Today marks the world’s largest e-commerce event. No, it’s not Black Friday yet – Singles Day is taking place in China, and it’s bigger than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. At midnight local time it took Alibaba just 52 seconds to take its first 1bn renminbi (£116m) and just under seven minutes to reach 10bn [...]
Lloyds Bank to cut 665 jobs and close further 49 branches November 11, 2016 Lloyds Banking Group said yesterday it will cut another 665 jobs and shut down 49 branches as part of a three-year restructure of the business aimed at cutting costs. The business will create 145 new roles across the business, but will lay off staff in retail, commercial banking, insurance and consumer finance, the bank said [...]
A deflating day for Halfords shares as margins are squeezed November 10, 2016 Shares in Halfords flopped five per cent today after revealing half-year profits had fallen by 12 per cent. While the car parts and bikes retailer announced that revenues had increased by six per cent, gross margins – the amount of profit it makes from every item sold – at its retail outlets fell sharply. Read [...]
All the important non-Trump news you need to know November 9, 2016 It's not all about Donald Trump beating Hillary Clinton to the White House, even though it might feel that way right now. Here's our round up of the latest non-election news you need to know. A tram crashed in Croydon Several people have been killed after a tram derailed in Croydon. The driver has been arrested [...]
Half-year profits fall by double digits at energy supplier SSE but return to growth expected this financial year November 9, 2016 Profits have fallen at Big Six energy supplier SSE, but the group has said it expects to be back in the black by the end of the year and plans to invest almost £2bn into its UK and Ireland operations. The figures Adjusted profit before tax fell by 13.3 per cent to £475.8m at SSE in the [...]
Sainsbury’s like-for-like sales fell for its first half, but statutory profit is up November 9, 2016 Sainsbury's like-for-like sales excluding fuel fell by one per cent in the its first half as the supermarket faces an uphill struggle to entice customers through its doors. The company eked out more profit however. Sainsbury's share fell at the open, ditching almost five per cent after it warned second half underlying profit is expected [...]
Burberry profits fall 24 per cent despite Brexit boost November 9, 2016 Burberry reported plummeting profits in the first half of the year – but added that the fall in sterling had pushed up comparable sales by 30 per cent in the UK. Silver linings? The figures Underlying pre-tax profits fell 24 per cent to £146m in the six months to the end of September, as revenues fell to [...]