SCS shares soar as sofa chain hikes full-year profit expectations January 19, 2016 Sofa and floorings chain ScS’s share price has soared by almost 17 per cent after the company said it expects full-year profits to beat City forecasts. In an unscheduled update the retailer, which floated last year, said trading over the key Christmas and January sales period was strong within both its 97 ScS stores and 30 [...]
MySale shares jump as flash sales website backed by Sir Philip Green swings back into profit January 19, 2016 MySale, the Australian flash sales website 25 per cent owned by Sir Philip Green's wife Tina, has swung back into profit in the first half after blaming marketing and expansion costs for posting heavy losses last year. The UK-listed online fashion retailer, which operates in the UK, New Zealand, and Asia, as well as Australia, [...]
Pound plummets to lowest value against the US dollar since 2009 January 19, 2016 The pound has fallen to its lowest value against the US dollar since 2009. Sterling rose in the morning to a value $1.43257 before Bank of England chief Mark Carney said now was not the time to raise interest rates. Carney also signalled he was some way off from voting for a rate hike. The pound [...]
Pinot Noir Madam? Aldi challenges retail rivals by launching online wine shop January 19, 2016 Discounter Aldi has stepped up competition with its retailing rivals after launching its first online shopping service today selling over 90 different wines and champagnes by the case. The German retailer's new online wine cellar includes best sellers from its in-store ranges as well as a new range of "fine boutique wines", called the Lot Series, available only [...]
Holland & Barrett tells suppliers to foot the bill for company’s investment programme by reducing costs January 18, 2016 Healthfood retailer Holland and Barrett has urged its suppliers to slim down their costs by five per cent to help fund the company's pension scheme. In addition to the price cuts, the group wants its suppliers to foot the bill for its investment in security by paying for £3m-worth of security tags and high definition CCTV in the [...]
Home Retail Group share price soars on announcing it will return £200m to shareholders with Wesfarmers to buy Homebase for £340m January 18, 2016 Home Retail Group has announced it will be returning £200m to shareholders, following the sale of its Homebase chain to one of Australia’s biggest listed companies. The British retail group has confirmed reports it will sell the DIY chain to Australian Wesfarmers for £340m. Wesfarmers, which already owns DIY supplier Bunnings, said it will spend another £242m [...]
UK footfall slumps in December as Britons spend Christmas online January 18, 2016 Britain's high streets suffered their biggest drop in footfall in over a year in December, as Britons shunned stores in favour of buying Christmas presents online. Traffic fell by four per cent year-on-year, which is far greater than the drop of 1.8 per cent in December 2014 and marked the biggest drop since November that same [...]
The count is in: These are the retail winners and losers for Christmas 2015 (according to Hargreaves Lansdown) January 15, 2016 After a busy few days chock-full of Christmas retail results, we're finally beginning to get a sense of who the winners and losers of 2015's festive period might be. Yesterday, Tesco surprised investors with better-than-expected results, rounding off a solid performance among the UK's traditional supermarket sector – although Asda is still yet to report. Marks & [...]
After doing better than expected over Christmas, is there a case for being bullish on Tesco? January 15, 2016 Philip Dorrell, partner at Retail Remedy retail consultants, says Yes. Tesco has reached bottom and is now on the way back up. Pre and post Christmas, the supermarket appeared to have the best availability and store operational improvements of all the Big 4. The marketing campaign was solid, back to its roots with a bit of [...]
Big Four fight back: Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco report rising sales after years of stagnation January 15, 2016 Tesco became the third supermarket to reveal better-than expected Christmas results yesterday, in the clearest sign yet that the industry is staging a successful fightback against German discounters Aldi and Lidl. The so-called big four – Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons – have been battling to respond to changing shopping habits and reverse the tide [...]