DIY
The latest news, updates and analysis on the DIY and home improvements segment of the the UK retail industry. Sign up to the Daily Briefing and let Retail Sector’s business journalists keep you in the picture.
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Nov- 2018 -22 November
Ikea’s ‘business transformation’ leaves 350 UK and Irish jobs at risk
DIY giant Ikea has announced that 350 jobs, out of the 12,100 UK and Ireland roles, may be made redundant during the next two years as part of its ‘business transformation’. Ikea’s owner, Ingka Group, said its transformation plan is “assessing all parts of the organisation” and is simplifying it…
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2 November
B&Q abandons Black Friday promotion
B&Q has announced it is “abandoning” Black Friday in favour of providing its customers with “year-round” low prices across the store. The DIY retailer is sticking with its everyday low prices model, which went store-wide with a £100m investment from July this year and has been in place on kitchens…
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1 November
Carpetright announces HY trading to be ‘heavily impacted’ by restructuring
Carpetright has said trading in its half-year update for the 26-week period ending 27 October was “heavily impacted” by the company’s restructuring which included 67 store closures. It said like-for-like performance remained negative in this second part of the period however “there was an improvement in the trend, as the…
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Oct- 2018 -30 October
Sofa.com to replace ScS at House of Fraser
Furniture specialists Sofa.com is set to introduce its products to seven House of Fraser outlets, replacing some of the ScS concessions. Sofa and carpet retailer ScS announced it would pull its concessions from House of Fraser by January 2019 as the company said the partnership was “no longer beneficial” following…
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25 October
ScS to pull concessions from House of Fraser
Furniture and floorings retail chain, ScS, has announced it will cease trading within House of Fraser stores in its trading update for the 12 weeks ending 20 October 2018. The group said due to developments with House of Fraser over the last few months, it believed the partnership was “no…
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11 October
Ikea reports strong growth in retail sales for FY 2018
Flat pack furniture retailer Ikea has reported a 4.7% increase in retail sales to €38.8bn (£33.9bn) in its full year 2018 report. The company opened 12 new Ikea stores, including its first in India, and customer visits to its 367 stores increased by 3% (838 million visits) in 2018 while…
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9 October
Ikea fined £100,000 after worker loses part of two fingers
Furniture retailer Ikea has been fined £100,000 after two of an engineer’s fingers were partially amputated during maintenance work on a roof-mounted fan at its Bristol store. The incident took place at the Eastgate Shopping Centre store on 21 November 2016 and was investigated and prosecuted by Bristol City Council.…
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8 October
B&Q slash 200 management roles to ‘boost shop floor staff numbers’
DIY retailer B&Q has announced proposals to “improve customers’ shopping experience” in stores by moving 1,750 colleagues to shop floor roles. The move will increase the number of customer-facing colleagues in B&Q’s 289 UK stores, but will slash around 200 management roles, with the proposal aiming to move replenishment activities…
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Sep- 2018 -28 September
Unions file complaint against Ikea over ‘workers’ rights abuses’
An international coalition of labour unions is calling for an investigation into supposed “wide-ranging violations” of workers’ rights at furniture retailer Ikea. The complaint, delivered to the Dutch OECD National Contact Point, details failures by Ikea’s global management to curb “vicious anti-union campaigns” in the United States, Ireland, and Portugal.…
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19 September
B&Q owner Kingfisher sees 15% profit slump with H1 results
Kingfisher, which owns DIY retailers B&Q and Screwfix, has reported a 14.8% drop in H1 pre-tax profits, dragged down by “significant weaknesses” with its French operations. Underlying pre-tax profit dropped to £375m in the six months to 31 July 2018, compared with £440m the previous year, and total sales remained…
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