Debenhams’ share price leaps 15 per cent as it shrugs off winter blues to deliver solid Christmas results January 12, 2016 Debenhams' share price leapt 15 per cent this morning, as the struggling department store shrugged off the winter blues plaguing other retailers to beat expectations for the 19 weeks to 9 January. The figures The department store has grown like-for-likes 3.5 per cent on a constant currency basis, or 1.9 per cent as reported, while gross [...]
UK retail sales: Christmas brings little cheer to retailers January 12, 2016 Christmas brought little cheer to UK retailers in December as hopes of a boost to sales from higher consumer confidence fell flat. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG’s latest monthly index shows like-for-like retail sales rose by 0.1 per cent from December 2014, when they had decreased 0.4 per cent. Total sales were up one [...]
House of Fraser reports strong Christmas trading period after first full year of being owned by Chinese conglomerate Sanpower January 11, 2016 House of Fraser appears to have shrugged off the festive blues plaguing other retailers, with sales up 5.3 per cent for the six weeks to 2 January. The figures The Chinese-owned department store, said it had had a strong Christmas trading period, starting with Black Friday, when sales were up 10 per cent on the previous [...]
What M&S’s new boss Steve Rowe can learn from Sir Alex Ferguson about crafting a winning business January 11, 2016 "It's a bit like being asked to be England football manager… you don’t turn it down.” These were the words of one analyst when Marc Bolland, soon to be former Marks & Spencer chief executive, took the retail hot seat back in 2009. Now, like so many England managers, he departs with a sense that adversity [...]
Shooting for the stars: The7stars co-founder Jenny Biggam on Iceland and independence January 11, 2016 There is a consensus among marketers that “content is king”. In traditional media, however, the division between programming and advertising has always been quite clear. But on Saturday evening, Suzuki began a £20m two-year deal to sponsor Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, using skits in the style of the show to promote the car [...]
UK Christmas sales 2015: Online shoppers boost consumer spending in December January 11, 2016 More shoppers took to their mobiles and laptops to buy their Christmas presents this year instead of venturing out on the high street, new figures show helping to fuel a rise in consumer spending. Data compiled by Markit on behalf of Visa Europe found that spending growth rose to 2.3 per cent year-on-year in December, from [...]
Deal spree to provide relief to the City with Shire on verge of tie-up with Baxalta January 11, 2016 A string of mega deals is set to provide welcome relief to the City after a rocky start to the year saw £85bn wiped off the value of the UK’s biggest firms in the first trading week of 2016. London-listed pharmaceutical giant Shire is on the verge of inking a £22bn deal with US rival Baxalta, [...]
UK grocers Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco set to show their hand in Christmas battle for sales January 10, 2016 The winners and losers of the battle for this winter’s Christmas dinner will be laid bare this week as Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco prepare to report tough trading amid intense competition in the grocery sector. Morrisons will report its Christmas trading figures on Tuesday, with the Bradford-based chain expected to post a two per cent decline [...]
Asda boss Andy Clarke adds £500m fuel to the supermarket price war with Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons as well as discounters Aldi and Lidl ahead of supermarket Christmas earnings bonanza January 10, 2016 Asda is throwing a further half a billion pounds at the supermarket price war as boss Andy Clarke predicted another "challenging" year for the sector. "There is currently no growth in the food market and the rise of the limited assortment discounters means that we must take radical action to win back our customers," said [...]
Focus On Croydon: The affordable South London hotspot that’s getting a £1bn facelift January 8, 2016 If there’s one thing we learnt from the London property market in 2015, it was not to underestimate the outer boroughs. Some of the largest house price growth increases were to be found in these supposed backwaters. Growth in places like Haringey and Hillingdon far outstripped traditionally prime areas like Kensington & Chelsea and Camden, [...]