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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Aug- 2018 -21 August
FRC fines KPMG £2.1m for ‘breach of ethical standards’ in Ted Baker audit
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has issued a £2.1m fine and “severely reprimanded” KPMG and its partner Michael Francis Barradell, after they admitted to “misconduct” in relation to audits of Ted Baker and No Ordinary Designer Label. Barradell also received a reprimand and a fine of £80,000 which was reduced…
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21 August
Office Outlet announces CVA proposal
Stationery retailer Office Outlet has announced a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) proposal to restructure its UK store estate as part of its ongoing turnaround strategy. The retail chain formerly known as Staples has spent the last two years performing an operational restructuring which it said has “significantly improved” its store…
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20 August
Office Outlet to ask for three-year rent-free period in CVA
Stationery retail chain Office Outlet is expected to make a Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA) announcement today (Monday 18 August) in which it may seek a three-year rent-free period for its stores. The Sunday Times reported that Deloitte would be handling the company’s impending CVA and 20 of its stores may…
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20 August
House of Fraser woes push Mulberry into £3m loss
Designer fashion brand Mulberry has issued a profit warning following the financial woes of House of Fraser. With the company, saying it expects to absorb costs of £3m due to the chain’s restructuring, the company’s shares dropped by 30% following the announcement. Mulberry operates 21 House of Fraser concessions, employing…
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17 August
Debenhams to axe 90 jobs
Debenhams has announced it is to cut 90 jobs as part of a restructuring plan to focus the business on key areas. The department store is also currently in redundancy talks with 200 head office workers as part of the last stage of its cost cutting plan. In a statement…
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17 August
House of Fraser cancels all online orders
Struggling retailer House of Fraser has cancelled all online orders and will refund customers who have not received their products. This comes only days after the retailer announced on Twitter that “orders would be delivered as soon as possible”. In the tweet, the company added that due to recent changes…
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17 August
Marks and Spencer replaces switchboard staff with AI
Marks and Spencer will be replacing its call centre employees with AI technology, cloud communications platform Twilio has announced. The technology will be delivered by Twilio across 640 M&S stores and 13 UK-based contact centre hubs. The project to migrate the retail chain’s switchboard operation took less than six months…
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16 August
Philip Day eyeing House of Fraser stores
Philip Day, the owner of Edinburgh Woollen Mill is reportedly in talks with landlord groups regarding a takeover of several House of Fraser stores. Day is talking to 10 to 15 landlords with a view to running them as Days Department Stores according to Drapers. Rents and leases on House of…
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15 August
Fat Face sales jump up 7.4%
Clothing retailer Fat Face has announced it has seen an overall sales rise of 7.4% to £238.4m in the 52 weeks to 2 June. Like-for-like growth also rose 4.9% across the same period, despite the company’s CEO Anthony Thompson warning in the company’s last financial update that the UK retail…
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15 August
Superdrug launches in-store Botox and filler service
High street health and beauty store Superdrug has launched an in-store Botox and fillers service at its flagship on the Strand in London. It is the first high street store to offer such a service and the scheme launched in conjunction with its Skin Renew Service. The service was established…
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