Year: 2019

Co-op to open 30 new stores in lead up to Christmas

The Co-op has announced plans to open 30 new stores in the run-up to Christmas. An investment of more than £25m will see stores open across the UK throughout November and December, including sites at transport hubs, “key” city locations and residential apartments – creating up to 500 jobs. According…

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Small business owners dip into personal wealth to survive? Of course they do

We are living through an era where there is much discussion about capitalism, taxes, executive pay and so on. Is Philip Green a monster for raiding the BHS coffers when they were his to raid? Is the pay of a city CEO morally acceptable when his lowest paid workers are…

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Preventing seasonal staff from becoming the Nightmare Before Christmas

As we approach the busiest shopping months of the year, many retailers will look to hire additional staff on short-term contracts to allow for the anticipated customer demand. In fact, a cursory search on one of the UK’s top job sites indeed.co.uk shows no less than 5,000 “Christmas” jobs advertised…

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Naked Wines completes £95m Majestic Wine disposal

Naked Wines has confirmed it has completed the £95m sale of Majestic Wines to the US-based Fortress Investment Group. The deal will see Majestic Wine Warehouses Limited and Les Celliers de Calais S.A.S, which together comprise the Majestic retail and commercial business, keep all 190 stores open. Under its previous…

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Debenhams appoints John Walden and Kevin Conroy as non-executive directors

Department store Debenhams has appointed John Walden and Kevin Conroy as non-executive directors of Celine Jersey Topco, the parent company of the Debenhams Group. Walden is currently chairman of Naked Wines (formerly known as Majestic Wine plc) and was previously held the position of chairman at Holland and Barrett International.…

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Inditex reveals boost to net sales and profit

The parent company of Zara, Inditex, has posted “strong” trading results for the first nine months of the year. Following a “strong operating performance”, net sales across its brands were €19.8bn (£16.73 bn) marking a year-on-year increase of 7.5%. Net profit for the fashion group, which also owns Massimo Dutti,…

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Want to know who will win the election? Watch the pound

In recent years there has been a lot of talk about how badly wrong pollsters can get it. Nobody thought Trump would win, nobody thought Leave would win the referendum, indeed even elections have been too close to call. Though it now feels like a different historical epoch to look…

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Disability discrimination claims– how do you respond to customers?

Customers have strong rights to claim against retailers for discrimination, whether that discrimination is in relation to race, sexual orientation, religion, disability or a number of other protected characteristics.  As to disability, one of the most commonly underestimated obligations on service providers (including retailers) is the duty to make reasonable…

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Mothercare losses widen amid declining sales

Embattled retailer Mothercare has reported statutory losses before tax of £21.2m in its half-year trading update, amid declining worldwide sales. For the 28 weeks to 12 October 2019, worldwide sales decreased by 8.4% to £452.3m, and international retail sales were also down 5.3% in constant currency. The retailer’s net debt…

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Ted Baker bosses depart as it warns of profits drop

Ted Baker has confirmed its CEO Lyndsay Page has resigned and chairman David Bernstein is to step down from their roles, on the same day that the embattled clothing retailer also issued a profit warning. In a trading update for its full year, the company said expectations for the period…

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