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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Feb- 2019 -13 February
Co-op to launch first franchise store scheme
The Co-op has announced plans to develop franchise stores, which will be the first time the 175-year-old supermarket has licensed its brand to independent retailers. This expansion programme aims to create a “significant number” of new Co-op branded stores under its franchise offering, on top of its recent announcement to…
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13 February
Ikea trials furniture leasing
Swedish furniture retailer, Ikea, has announced it has begun trialling an environmentally-friendly leasing scheme in one of its Swiss stores. Alongside the trial, Ikea has introduced programmes which will see waste reduced, with customers returning old beds and sofas which are then donated to charity by the Swedish retailer. Ikea…
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13 February
Liberty London ‘could be sold for £300m’
The owner of Liberty London has reportedly brought the luxury department store to market for a potential £300m price tag. According to Sky News, private equity firm BlueGem Capital Partners – the store’s largest shareholder – is said to be looking to offload its share in the department store and…
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12 February
Gucci helps Kering ‘outperform’ sector
Kering has continued to “significantly outperform the sector” as its Gucci brand delivered revenues of £7.27bn. The luxury goods group reported consolidated revenues of £11.9bn up 26.3% from the previous year. The company’s like-for-like sales also rose by 24.5% to £3.32 billion. Kering said its two primary brands Gucci and…
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12 February
More retailers allowing international payments as Brexit looms
Analysis of the UK’s top 250 retailers has found a 19% year-on-year increase in the number of brands offering the option to pay in international currency. The figure forms part of an annual performance index carried out by e-commerce and digital agency, Visualsoft. The report examined the sector’s biggest names…
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12 February
West End retailers face £45m rates hike in April
Retailers located in London’s West End are set to face a £45m rates tax increase in April, according to a report by real estate advisor Altus Group. Business rates help announced at the Autumn Budget last year, which promised to slash bills by a third for high street business in…
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12 February
Debenhams secures £40m cash injection
Debenhams has received a £40m cash injection from lenders in order to buy it more time as it looks to secure a longer term investment deal. The new investment allows the retailer to extend its current £520m borrowing facilities with banks for another 12 months, meaning it will be able…
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11 February
High street vacancies on the rise, retail data shows
The national town centre vacancy rate was 9.9% in January 2019, up from 8.9% a year earlier This is according to the latest figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Springboard that also found retail footfall dropped a further 0.7% in January – although this was a lesser decline…
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11 February
Iceland eyeing Sainsbury’s and Asda stores
Iceland is considering a bid for the Sainsbury’s and Asda stores, which were put on the market after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) told the retailers that they must cut their stores in order to obtain regulatory clearance for the proposed merger. The supermarket’s CEO Richard Walker, said that…
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11 February
18,722 retail jobs lost or at risk since Christmas day
Some 18,722 retail staff, 400 every single day, have either been made redundant or have had their jobs threatened since Christmas day, according to new data from real estate data service Altus. Oddbins, Patisserie Valerie, Greenwoods, Chapelle, tReds and HMV have all entered administration, with the music and film retailer…
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