Year: 2019

Pretty Green set to appoint administrators this week

Fashion brand, Pretty Green is set to draft in administrators this week after it filed a notice of intention to appoint Moorfields Advisory to handle an insolvency protest. The brand, owned by Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher, called in advisors from the accountancy firm last month after sources told Drapers the…

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Paperchase CVA proposal approved by creditors

The creditors of stationery retailer Paperchase have approved its proposed company voluntary arrangement (CVA). The retailer originally announced the CVA proposal on 4 March, and at the time said some 45 sites would “largely remain unchanged”, whilst turnover rents would be proposed at 70 sites, with a “varying guaranteed minimum…

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Sports Direct slams Debenhams for rejecting £100m offer

Sports Direct has criticised Debenhams for rejecting its offer to acquire its Danish company Magasin Du Nord for £100m. On Friday (22 March), the struggling department store announced it had secured a £200m refinancing lifeline, shortly after Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct made the proposal which gave Debenhams the 12 month…

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Travis Perkins appoints new COO amid plans to simplify business

Building materials retailer, Travis Perkins, has appointed Frank Elkins as its new chief operating officer for the group’s trade merchant business. The operations which Elkins will oversee include Travis Perkins builders merchants, BSS, Benchmarx, Keyline and CCF, which generate more than £3.6bn in annual revenue combined and have a branch…

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Why retailers should put the customer at the heart of digital transformation

There are so many technology solutions available to the retail sector that arguably the most critical step in investing in this area is to separate the technology that will drive business growth from that which will end up being just another toy in the toy box. In previous eras, technology…

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Retail sales bounce back in February

Retail sales have bounced back slightly February 2019, as the quantity bought increased by 0.4% during the month. In the three months to February 2019, the quantity bought increased by 0.7% when compared with the previous three months, with strong growth in non-store retailing and fuel. Year-on-year growth in the…

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Crime cost retailers £1.9bn last year

The British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) annual Retail Crime Survey has revealed the total cost of crime and crime prevention for retailers was £1.9bn last year. This was up 12% from the previous year (£1.7bn) and was made up of £900m direct cost from retail crime, and £1bn spent in efforts…

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Debenhams secures £200m lifeline

Embattled department store Debenhams has confirmed it has secured a £200m refinancing lifeline. The funding is expected to “provide liquidity headroom” for its future funding needs and “deliver stability for its customers, staff, suppliers and pension holders”. Earlier this month, the company said it was considering a £150m cash injection…

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Carphone Warehouse rebuked over ‘Cyber Monday’ promotion

Carphone Warehouse has been rebuked by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over an iPhone promotion. Four complainants who had attempted to take up the offer which stated “Apple iPhone XR £36.00 P/M free handset 100GB data cyber monday”, and were later told their order could not be processed, challenged whether…

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How to curb e-commerce fraud as people migrate to online shopping

Figures from the annual BRC Retail Crime Survey report an exponential increase in e-commerce fraud, specifically fraudulent Card Not Present (CNP) refunds. As consumers shift away from spending on the high street and adopt a proclivity for online shopping, e-commerce fraud is growing at twice the rate of e-commerce sales.…

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