Convenience store openings up by a fifth as the big four try to match our changing shopping habits June 17, 2016 Convenience stores are popping up all over the country as people do fewer weekly shops and opt for fewer, more frequent trips instead. The number of convenience stores has risen by 21 per cent in the past five years. The big four supermarkets – Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons – opened the stop-off shops at the [...]
Tesco’s share price edges up as it weeds out Dobbies garden centres in £217m sale June 17, 2016 Tesco today confirmed the sale of Dobbies garden centres to a group of investors led by Midlothian Capital Partners and Hattington Capital. The supermarket's share price edged up 0.2 per cent in early morning trading after the announcement. Tescos bought Dobbies in 2008 for £150m and has now sold the garden store chain for £217m – a deal that has [...]
Focus On Bloomsbury: House prices are blooming marvellous in this intellectual corner of central London June 16, 2016 Bloomsbury conjures up images of fusty intellectuals like former residents Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, EM Forster and John Maynard Keynes. Home to austere, prestigious institutions like the British Museum, the Royal Portrait Gallery and University College London, it isn’t necessarily somewhere you’d think of moving to. But the recent clamour for central London property has [...]
Retail sales offer some sun for the UK economy as shoppers grab their summer goods June 16, 2016 Retail sales volume in May increased by six per cent compare with the same month last year, according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), providing some good news for the embattled retail sector. Including petrol prices, average store prices fell by 2.8 per cent in May as compared to May 2015. Read more: These are the [...]
Poundland announces disappointing profits after surprise takeover offer from Steinhoff June 16, 2016 Bargain basement retailer Poundland today announced a fall in sales, a day after South African giant Steinhoff said it was eyeing up the company. Read more: Poundland shares have jumped after a surprise takeover offer The figures Like-for-like sales at the discounter were down 3.9 per cent, compared to a rise of 2.4 per cent in 2015. Pre-tax [...]
Mulberry has sales in the bag as pre-tax profit grows to £6.2m June 16, 2016 Designer handbag firm Mulberry Group has posted a £4m jump in profits, driven by retail sales as the company carries on with its turnaround plan. The figures The firm grew pre-tax profit to £6.2m in the year to 31 March, from £1.9m the year before. Total revenue was up by five per cent to £155.9m [...]
Poundland shares have jumped after Bensons for Beds owner Steinhoff made a surprise takeover offer June 15, 2016 Poundland shares jumped more than seven per cent this morning after South African giant Steinhoff made an uninvited takeover offer. Shares in the discount retailer hit 210.20p in early trading, after the Bensons for Beds and Harveys owner confirmed it was considering a possible offer for Poundland. It added the announcement had been made "without the consent [...]
Retail sector would face more red tape if we leave the European Union, according to the Economist June 15, 2016 As if the retail sector didn't have enough to deal with following the collapse of Austin Reed and BHS, it now must contend with the possibility of further losses if the UK votes to leave the European Union, according to a new report. The report from the Economist Intelligence Unit says that rather than cutting [...]
Sir Philip Green will be chatting with MPs tomorrow after all June 14, 2016 After a few days of doubt, Sir Philip Green has today confirmed that he will attend a hearing with MPs to discuss the collapse of BHS after all. There was some speculation that the Arcadia boss would bow out of his scheduled meeting after last week calling for the chair of the Work and Pensions select committee to [...]
What to expect from Sir Philip Green’s appearance before MPs tomorrow June 14, 2016 The day is almost here… Sir Philip Green himself will (probably) make his appearance in front of MPs tomorrow to explain his part in the sale of BHS. So far there have been allegations of death threats, tantrums, and dramatic confrontations in hotel lobbies. As David Buik, market commentator for Panmure Gordan & Company, put it: "Wednesday’s testimony [...]