News
The latest news, updates and analysis on the the UK retail industry. Covering every segment of the market, Retail Sector’s business journalists keep you in the picture.
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Sep- 2019 -13 September
A&B Pawnbrokers and Herbert Brown shutters UK stores
Albemarle & Bond Pawnbrokers (A&B Pawnbrokers) and Herbert Brown have shuttered stores across the country, in a sudden move that has left customers in the dark over the whereabouts of items pawned with the businesses. In a statement on its website, the pawnbrokers apologised for “any inconvenience that may be…
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13 September
Sainsbury’s to halve plastic packaging by 2025
Sainsbury’s has announced a new commitment to reduce plastic packaging by 50% by 2025. This new target includes all branded food packaging, Sainsbury’s brand food packaging and packaging across all of its operations. The ‘Big Four’ gorcer currently uses almost 120,000 tonnes of plastic packaging per year and believes a…
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13 September
M&S partners with infarm to bring urban farming to London stores
M&S Food has announced a new partnership with Infarm – the urban farming platform – to deliver a range of fresh produce grown and harvested in a selection of M&S’ London stores. Thanks to the partnership customers can now find a range of fresh herbs – including Italian, Greek and…
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12 September
91% of Sports Direct shareholders re-elect Mike Ashley
Over 90% of Sports Direct’s shareholders have voted in favour of founder Mike Ashley’s re-election as a director of the company. A statement from the group’s AGM on Wednesday (11 September) said that 90.99% of votes cast were in favour of re-electing Ashley, with just over 9% voting against it. …
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12 September
John Lewis warns of no-deal Brexit amid £26m loss
John Lewis Partnership has reported a loss of £25.9m for the first half of the year, warning that a no-deal Brexit may lead to “significant” impact it may not be able to mitigate. For the half-year period ending 27 July 2019, the department store chain revealed that revenues slipped by…
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12 September
Morrisons quarterly sales drop for first time since 2016
‘Big Four’ grocer Morrisons has reported a 1.9% drop in like-for-like sales in its Q2 results, compared with the 6.3% increase seen the previous year. For the six months ending 4 August 2019, group like-for-like sales increased by a marginal 0.2%, compared with 4.9% last year, and total revenue grew…
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12 September
Co-op profits dropped by almost 50% in H1
The Co-operative Group saw profits drop by almost 50% in the six months to July, as the firm’s funerals business took a hit from an “unexpected” drop in the number of deaths. Profit before tax reduced to £25m for the period, compared with £44m for the same period last year.…
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11 September
Labour pledges £10 minimum wage for all workers over 16
Jeremey Corbyn has pledged a £10 an hour minimum wage for all workers over 16 if his party is elected to government. In a speech delivered to the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in Brighton, Corbyn said Labour would also deliver action on the gender pay gap, equal rights for all…
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11 September
Most valuable UK retailers ‘falling behind’ global rivals, study finds
The value growth of the UK’s top retail brands is “falling behind” that of the leading global retail brands, according to Kantar’s ‘2019 BrandZTM Top 75 Most Valuable UK Brands’ ranking. While the UK retailers in the Top 75 grew their combined value by 4% over the last year, their…
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11 September
Inditex reports record net sales and revenue in H1
Inditex Group, owners of retail chain Zara has reported record revenue and net sales for the first half of 2019. Net sales topped €12.82bn (£11.4bn) for the first time, a year-on-year growth of 7%, for the period from 1 February-31 July 2019. Net profit hit a new record of €1.55bn…
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