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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May- 2022 -4 May
Early May bank holiday provides footfall boost
The impact of two bank holidays has led to an uplift in footfall over the last week of April, up 29.5% year-on-year, rising 0.7% week-on-week. According to Springboard, the beginning of the week was still influenced by Easter, due to low comparables in the week before last on Easter Sunday…
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4 May
Retail Jobs Alliance demands business rates reform
An alliance of retail companies including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Greggs and Waterstones are forging a new coalition to urge Rishi Sunak to move ahead with reforms to Britain’s decades-old business rates regime, according to Sky News. The group, which is calling itself the Retail Jobs Alliance, has written to the chancellor…
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3 May
Asda owners in talks to sell £13bn EG Group
Asda owners the Issa brothers are reportedly in talks to merge their EG petrol forecourt business with Canadian convenience store giant Couche-Tard, according to the Wall Street Journal. Couche-Tard, which runs 7,000 convenience stores in the U.S. and as many abroad, EG Group have traded proposals in recent weeks that…
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3 May
Card Factory swings to profit in FY22
Card Factory plc has reported its pre-tax profits surged 167.7% to £11.1m for the year ended 31 January 2022 (FY22), compared to a loss of £16.4m in FY21. It said the performance comes in ahead of management’s expectations and amid “significant” trading disruption and inflationary cost pressures. Revenues also increased…
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3 May
John Lewis to hire 150 tech jobs in digital expansion
John Lewis Partnership has announced it is hiring over 150 roles as part of a major investment in digital. The group is aiming to hire engineers across a range of technologies including software, cloud platform, native app, data engineers and delivery leads. It comes as the group aims to take…
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Apr- 2022 -28 April
Superdrug freezes prices on over 100 products
Superdrug has announced that it is freezing the prices of over 100 everyday essential products across personal care, beauty and healthcare in a bid to help customers with the current cost of living crisis. The health and beauty retailer said it will freeze these prices for at least one year,…
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28 April
Apollo and Reliance plan joint bid for Boots takeover
US buyout firm Apollo Global Management and Reliance Industries have joined forces to plan a joint bid for UK pharmacy chain Boots, according to the Financial Times. Reliance is owned by India’s second-richest man, Mukesh Ambani, and if the bid is successful, Boots will expand its footprint into India, south-east…
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27 April
Coca Cola Q1 revenues hit £8.37bn
The Coca-Cola Company has reported its revenues surged 16% to $10.5bn (£8.37bn) in the three months ended 1 April 2022 (Q1 FY22), with 18% growth in organic revenues. Operating income also grew 25%, which included a six-point currency headwind, driven by “strong” organic revenue (non-GAAP) growth across all operating segments,…
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27 April
May deadline set for Boots takeover bids
A deadline of May 16 has been set for final bids for Boots, according to Sky News. The company’s owner Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) issued the deadline as it looks to offload the business as economic issues threaten its valuation, with the price tag currently standing at up to £7bn.…
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26 April
Footfall declines 7% in post-Easter slump
Footfall across UK retail destinations declined by -7% last week from the week before, with a drop of -10.2% in shopping centres, and -6.9% in retail parks, according to Springboard. High streets however benefited from activity on Easter Sunday which meant that the drop in footfall was more modest at…
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