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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May- 2020 -12 May
Chancellor extends furlough scheme until October
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has extended the Government’s furlough scheme until the end of October. Announcing the decision in the house of commons today (12 May) Sunak revealed that “no changes whatsoever” will be made to the current scheme until the end of July. However he noted that…
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12 May
Chancellor expected to extend furlough scheme to September
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak is expected to extend the Government’s coronavirus furlough scheme to September, but reduce the amount people can claim to 60% of their earnings. According to Sky News, the move aims to prevent some 1.2 million redundancies, and comes after Sunak promised there would not…
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12 May
Kingfisher sales drop 25% in Q1 results
B&Q and Screwfix owner B&Q has revealed its first quarter sales fell by 24.8% to £2.2bn as the impact of the coronavirus hit its core markets of UK, Ireland and France. Kingfisher said it saw UK and Ireland sales fall 14.7% to £1.09bn, with B&Q sales plummeting 22.1% to £663m.…
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12 May
AO expects full year revenues will be in line with expectations
Online electricals retailer AO World has said that it expects its full-year revenues and adjusted EBITDA to fall within the range of “analyst expectations”. The online retailer is aiming to release its preliminary results for the year ending 31 March in July this year, as it will expect to have…
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12 May
Morrisons sales rise in ‘volatile’ quarter
Morrisons has revealed that trading in the first quarter of 2020 was “volatile” in light of the ongoing pandemic, despite seeing a “significant improvement” in recent weeks. In the 14 weeks ended 10 May, group like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, were up 5.7%, with 5.1% of sales from retail and 0.6%…
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11 May
Mike Ashley and Peter Cowgill in race to acquire Office
Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley and JD Sports owner Peter Cowgill have both been revealed as bidders for footwear retailer Office. According to Sky News, it comes as the chain seeks funding to support it through the current coronavirus pandemic. Two other unnamed parties who have also expressed an interest…
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11 May
Retail industry responds to PM’s conditional plan to ease lockdown
The retail industry has reacted to the prime minister’s announcement last night that outlined a ‘conditional’ to ease lockdown with stores possibly reopening sometime in June. Last night (10 May), Boris Johnson gave a prospective outline for a series of phased store reopenings next month if certain conditions of a…
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11 May
Trouble ahead for retail vacancy rates, warns BRC
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Local Data Company has said the new BRC-LDC Vacancy Monitor has revealed that the rate of store vacancies increased to 12.2% in March. The monitor also reported a 0.3% decrease in vacancy rates in shopping centres to 14.1% compared with 14.4%. The South West…
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11 May
Retail footfall plummets 80%
Footfall across the UK plummeted 80.1% during the month of April, in light of the nation obeying government-induced lockdown measures. According to Springboard, this figure marks a decline of “unprecedented magnitude”, though retail parks fared better with a 68.1% drop in footfall due to the “presence of essential food stores”. …
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7 May
White Stuff to cut jobs as it prepares for post-lockdown retail
Fashion retailer White Stuff is reportedly set to cut both sales and head office jobs as it prepares for like after lockdown. According to Sky News, the retailer is set to make “significant” redundancies as it anticipates a reduced demand and shorter opening hours once lockdown restrictions are lifted. It…
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