Economy
The latest news, updates and analysis on the economy and how it is affecting 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 -16 November
Black Friday set to be worth £10.4bn in the UK
Black Friday sales are forecast to grow faster than the UK retail market in Q4 2018, as the promotional period draws in spend from before and after the event, data and analytics company GlobalData has suggested. Zoe Mills, retail analyst at the firm, predicted fashion and beauty will be the…
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12 November
All Saints sees profits fall by over half
Clothing retailer All Saints has seen its profits fall by over half to £10.6m in the year to February 2018. Sales rose by 8% to £327m during the same period, falling short of the £500m target owners Lion Capital had set. The investment firm bought a majority stake in All…
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12 November
Footfall drops for 11th consecutive month
Footfall in October fell by 2% on the previous year, an identical fall to that recorded in October 2017 and a deeper decline than September 2018 when footfall fell by 1.7%. According to the Springboard retail footfall figures, October also marked the 11th month of consecutive footfall decline. However, analysts…
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9 November
Fast fashion brands called before Parliament
A number of online only fashion retailers have been asked to give evidence as part of the Environmental Audit Committee’s inquiry into the sustainability of the fashion industry. The chair of the committee has written letters to ASOS, Boohoo, PrettyLittleThing, Amazon and Missguided, published today (9 November), to the online…
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1 November
Bank of England puts hold on interest rates due to Brexit uncertainty
The Bank of England has placed interest rates on hold following growing uncertainty around Brexit. A vote to leave rates unchanged held by the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) was in favour of leaving rates at 0.75% by 9-0. Financial markets are currently indicating that rates will not rise until…
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1 November
600 jobs at risk as Crawshaws enters administration
Meat retailer Crawshaws has announced it has entered administration, putting 600 jobs at risk across its 42 stores. A Crawshaws spokesperson told Retail Sector that the company blamed its financial woes on “increasing competitor pressures on the high street”, namely “discount activity from the likes of Aldi and Lidl”. According…
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Oct- 2018 -29 October
HMV tops Amazon on physical music sales
HMV has overtaken Amazon for physical music sales, the entertainment retailer increased its market share to 28% during the 12 weeks to 23 September. According to research published by Kantar Worldpanel, the release of the 100th edition of Now That’s What I Call Music which sold almost double its predecessor,…
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26 October
Schuh profits fall 9.6% following ‘lack-lustre festive sales period’
Footwear retailer Schuh has announced a pre-tax profit fall of 9.6% down to £15m for the previous financial year. The retailer blamed a “lacklustre” festive period on an “overtly promotional retail market” in the footwear industry. Despite the profit fall the retailer announced a revenue rise in the year to…
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18 October
Retail sector ‘to face £186.45m business rates increase next April’
Retail firms will see business rates increase by £186.45 next April for the year 2019/20, according to real estate advisor Altus Group. September’s Consumer Prices Index (CPI) measure of inflation, announced on 17 October at 2.4% will determine business rate rises in England for the next year. It is its…
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15 October
Shoe Zone defies retail blues to report strong summer performance
Shoe Zone has announced a “strong performance” for the current financial year, seeing its revenue rise by almost 2% for the 52 weeks to 29 September. The shoe retailer also announced profits of £11m which it claims were boosted by a strong performance for its summer and spring ranges and…
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