High Street
The latest news, updates and analysis on the the British High Street and 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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Mar- 2019 -22 March
Crime cost retailers £1.9bn last year
The British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) annual Retail Crime Survey has revealed the total cost of crime and crime prevention for retailers was £1.9bn last year. This was up 12% from the previous year (£1.7bn) and was made up of £900m direct cost from retail crime, and £1bn spent in efforts…
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20 March
Superdrug launches in-store consultations on breast cancer checks
Superdrug has announced its partnership with charity CoppaFeel! to offer a no touch consultation on how to carry out a breast examination in all 56 of its nurse clinics across the UK. It has become the first high street retailer to offer the check which has an aim to educate…
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15 March
Jobs and stores could go as Green considers Arcadia restructure
Sir Philip Green is preparing to unveil a company voluntary agreement (CVA) for Arcadia in a matter of weeks, Sky News has reported. The proposal could result in a number of job losses and store closures across its high street brands which include Topshop, Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins and Warehouse.…
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14 March
DFS revenues jump 29.1% in H1 results
Furniture retailer DFS has reported a 29.1% increase in group revenue to £422.3m for the 22 weeks ending 30 December 2018. Reported profit before tax more than doubled to £14.1m during the period from £6.2m last year, and underlying pro-forma EBITDA increased by 23.8% to £32.8m. The retailer also opened…
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11 March
Feb footfall signals 15th month of decline
Footfall fell by 2% in February, a significant decline compared with the previous year, when it fell by 0.2%, and marks the fifteenth consecutive month of decline. According to the BRC’s figures it was also the weakest February in five years. High street footfall was found to have declined by 1.9%, marking seven consecutive months of weakening…
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8 March
Mike Ashley moves to take control of Debenhams
Mike Ashley has announced plans to remove all the directors at Debenhams, except Rachel Osborne who was appointed in September, and appoint himself to the board in an executive role. Ashley, who holds a 30% stake in the department store chain, pledged in a stock exchange announcement on Thursday evening…
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6 March
Findel rejects Sports Direct’s takeover bid
Findel’s board of directors has unanimously rejected Sports Direct’s £139m bid it has, saying the offer “significantly undervalues” the company. The news comes after the company agreed to buy shares in Findel worth £9.7m, taking its stake in the Accrington-based business from 29.9% to 36.8%. Under takeover rules any investor…
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5 March
February retail growth hit by ‘Brexit uncertainty’
February retail growth was hit by “Brexit uncertainty” according to the BRC as on a total basis, sales increased by 0.5% in the month, a slowdown when compared with 1.6% in February 2018. This was found to be below both the three-month and 12-month averages of 0.9% and 1.2% respectively.…
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1 March
Business rates appeals drop under ‘complicated’ system
Businesses are struggling with the new ‘check challenge appeal’ (CCA) business rates appeals system, according to rating experts at Colliers International, commercial real estate agency and consultancy. New figures released by the government show that in the 21 months between 1 April 2017, when the new system for appealing against…
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Feb- 2019 -28 February
Shop workers face highest risk of redundancy, report finds
Retail workers are more likely to be made redundant and face a longer duration of unemployment compared with employees in other sectors, a new report has found. The report – ‘Sorry, we’re closed’ – by the think tank the Resolution Foundation found the retail sector’s falling employment share is a…
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