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On this episode of Talking Shop I’m joined by Alain Bejjani—former Group CEO of Middle East retail giant Majid Al Futtaim, and author of the definitive new book, NEXT: Leading Through the New Realities. Drawing on his childhood in war-torn Beirut, and his experience steering a $9.5bn dollar retail and lifestyle empire through a global pandemic, Alain brings an unmatched perspective on leadership under pressure. Today, we break down his crisis survival playbook for retailers operating in distress. We discuss why resilience must always outpace efficiency, the four assets a brand must protect at all costs, and how to turn macro-turmoil into a long-term direction that scales.

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Sosandar has revealed that its losses have narrowed to £0.7m, down from £1.3m, for the half year ended 30 September 2024.

The brand put this positive swing down to margin enhancement and continued careful cost management.

However, the company’s revenues fell to £16.2m, down from £22.2m, as the group continued to transition away from price promotional activity outside the major scheduled sale events.

As a result of this the company expects its full year revenue to be in the region of £40.5m with a profit before tax of £1m.

In the period the company opened four stores, its first standalone stores, and saw 65% of purchases in those stores made by new customers.

Ali Hall and Julie Lavington, co-CEOs, said: “The past six months have been incredibly important steps in Sosandar’s development. We are now well on our way to becoming a true multichannel retailer following the opening of our first four stores during the half. Seeing the Sosandar brand on high streets, and the reaction we have received so far, validates our decision to give our customers more ways to shop with our brand.

“Post period end we signed an agreement with Next for our brand to be licensed to develop a homeware range, providing further validation of the strength of the Sosandar brand. This shows the leverage and brand equity that we have built and will allow us to broaden our reach into new audiences and enable existing customers to deepen their affinity to our brand.”

They added: “Trading in the second half of the financial year to date has been encouraging, across all our channels, as we head into peak season. In the lead up to Christmas we have seen extremely strong sales of occasionwear, knitwear, including knitted dresses, and denim.

“Looking ahead, we remain incredibly excited for what lies ahead for Sosandar as we take advantage of the multiple opportunities available to us, and we take the Sosandar brand to more customers across the UK and worldwide and continue on our journey to become one of the largest womenswear brands globally.”

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