News
News is Retail Sector’s central hub for breaking stories, market developments and company updates from across the UK retail industry. This category delivers authoritative, timely coverage on everything from trading performance and executive changes to store openings, brand activity and supply chain developments.
Retail Sector’s news coverage focuses on the business realities behind the headlines — providing retail professionals with context on how each development impacts operations, strategy and market confidence. Readers can expect clear, accurate reporting designed to keep decision-makers informed and competitive in a fast-moving retail landscape.
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Apr- 2018 -12 April
Rise in profits for Central England Co-operative despite “challenging trading environment”
Central England Co-operative has announced its year end results, to 27 January 2018. Gross sales and operating profit were up compared to the previous year despite the Society operating in “a challenging and highly competitive trading environment.” Growth at the member-owned co-operative business has been driven by continued strong sales…
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11 April
Shop Direct closes three warehouses, 1,992 jobs affected
Digital retailer Shop Direct has announced that it will be closing three major warehouses across Manchester. The move will impact 1,177 permanent Shop Direct staff and 815 agency staff. Redundancies are anticipated as a result of the site closures. Shop Direct reviewed its fulfilment sites at Shaw, Little Hulton and…
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11 April
Asos enjoys 22% sales growth
Fashion giant Asos has generated retail sales growth of 27% for the six months to 28 February 2018. The UK had growth of 22% with strong international growth of 31%, despite a “challenging market”. The firm said “extra enhancements” such as a ‘try before you buy’ scheme had contributed to…
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11 April
Waitrose becomes first retailer to ban disposable coffee cups
Waitrose has announced plans to phase out all disposable coffee cups in its stores by autumn, in a bid to reduce packaging and plastic waste. The removal of the cups will begin on 30 April at nine stores, before being rolled out at its outlets nationwide. The retailer has said…
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11 April
High street store openings at lowest level in seven years
New high street store openings have fallen to their lowest level since 2010, new research suggests. A report by retail location strategists Local Data Company (LDC) for PwC, which studied 500 town centres across the country, shows that the number of new stores opened on the UK high street feel…
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11 April
Hammerson rejects revised £5.04bn proposal from Klépierre
Hammerson’s board of directors has unanimously rejected a revised £5.03bn offer by French retailer Klépierre, on the basis that “it very significantly undervalued Hammerson”. The revised proposal is 635 pence per Hammerson share, comprising 50% in new Klépierre shares and 50% in cash, and is a marginal increase to Klépierre’s…
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11 April
Tesco defies retail struggles amid ‘year of strong progress’
Tesco has posted a marked increase in its annual profits and called 2017 a “year of strong progress” in its preliminary result for the year. For the financial year ending 24 February Tesco recorded pre-tax profits of £1.3bn – up from £145m the previous year where its profits were dented…
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10 April
Card Factory posts £14.6m drop in full-year profits
Card Factory has posted a £14.6m drop in its full-year profits which it has attributed to the weak pound and soaring wage costs. Pre-tax profits for the fiscal year ending January 31 were £72.6m, down 12.3% on the previous year. This is despite the card and gift retailer’s revenues increasing…
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10 April
Easter retail sales ‘didn’t measure up’: KPMG
Easter retail sales did not “measure up” to expectations, with overall UK retail sales increasing by 1.4% in March from last year, according to KPMG. New figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) show, on a total basis, sales rose 2.3% in March, against a decline of 0.2% in March…
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10 April
Iceland to ban palm oil from own-brand products
Frozen food supermarket chain Iceland will stop using palm oil as an ingredient in all of its own label food by the end of 2018, it has announced. Iceland has already brought out 100 new lines without palm oil and by the start of 2019 will have launched over 200…
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