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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Jul- 2018 -24 July
Over 30,000 retailers in ‘significant financial distress’ at end of Q2
Over 30,000 retailers were found to be in “significant financial distress” at the end of June 2018, according to research Professional services firm Begbies Traynor’s ‘Red Flag Alert’ research for Q2 2018 found 472,183 businesses were experiencing financial distress, a 9% increase when compared with the same period the previous…
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23 July
McColl’s CFO resigns amid ‘most challenging six months’
McColl’s CFO, Simon Fuller, has resigned amid the firm’s “most challenging six months” during which profits almost halved. Although the British convenience store retailer saw total revenue increase 19.2% year-on-year to £601.7m, attributed to the 2017 acquisition of around 300 Co-op stores, McColl’s reported profits of £2.3m down from the…
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23 July
Committee finds retailers ‘poor’ at regulating fur sales
The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee has found that retailers, local authorities and Trading Standards have been “poor at enforcing regulations around the sale of real fur”, following its recent inquiry. The committee also said that Brexit would provide an opportunity for the UK to improve its system of…
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20 July
High street struggles drag sterling down to $1.30
The pound has been dragged down to $1.30 by declining high street footfall and the financial woes of a slew of retail brands. An increase in retail sales of 0.2% had been predicted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), however statisticians were surprised by a fall of 0.5% in…
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20 July
Study finds small retail businesses struggle with brand identity
UK retail small businesses are struggling to differentiate themselves according to new research released by Vistaprint and run the risk of “merging into one”. The study found that 40% of small businesses in the retail sector may be guilty of not branding themselves effectively, leaving them exposed to missed…
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20 July
Inquiry into BHS directors could be reopened
The inquiry into the former directors of BHS could be reopened following the discovery of new information by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), Retail Sector has learned. The chief executive of the Insolvency Service Sarah Albon, requested more information from the FRC regarding the conduct of the retailer’s directors. The…
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20 July
Poundworld to shutter all remaining stores
Poundworld will close all 190 remaining stores by 10 August after administrators Deloitte failed to find a buyer for the business at a price which satisfied them. A total of 2,339 staff will be affected in this final wave of store closures, and the firm announced yesterday that all distribution…
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19 July
Poundworld distribution centres for the chopping block
The administrators of Poundworld, Deloitte, have announced that the retailer’s distribution centre operations will be closing on Friday 20 July. They also announced the closure of a further 78 stores, which will see 907 employees lose their jobs when the stores shutter on either Thursday 26 July or Sunday 29…
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19 July
Store closures lead to slump in demand for retail space
New research has found that 70% of chartered surveyors in London saw a notable slump in demand for retail space over the last quarter, in light of recent closures by Poundworld and M&S. The research by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said that demand for retail space is…
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19 July
Debenhams woes hit Sports Direct profits
Sports Direct has seen a 73% drop in pre-tax profit despite an increase in revenue thanks to its investment in struggling department chain Debenhams. In its preliminary results for the period ending 29 April, Sports Direct said pre-tax profits were £77.5m, down 72.5% from £281.6m the previous year. It said…
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