Sales Give Lift To Difficult Trading

The January sales helped give a much needed sales lift to UK retailers, but the respite proved to be short-lived in a continuing tough consumer environment. The monthly BRC/KPMG Sales Monitor showed UK sales up by 0.5 per cent on a like-for-like basis in January, with total year-on-year growth of 3.5 per cent. The three-month growth rates was down by 0.1 per cent like-for-like, but edged up to 2.7 per cent for total sales, marginally ahead of December.

The BRC said January sales started well, especially over the New Year Bank Holiday, but then fell back to nearer pre-Christmas levels, with trade still difficult and disappointing for many retailers. Consumers remain cautious, especially about big-ticket purchases, hitting furniture and larger electricals suffered. Clothing and footwear had a better month.

BRC director general Kevin Hawkins said: "The heavy discounting and widespread clearance sales got January off to a good start, with many retailers relying on strong January sales to help compensate for what was the worst Christmas in a decade. However, following a relatively strong New Year's bank holiday, trading then took a downward turn.

Overall January was better than the flat December. The first week was very strong, with some excellent sales of women's, children's and especially menswear. Good clearance was achieved in the sales but trade then fell back before improving end-month. In womenswear, skirts were popular, particularly tiered gypsy styles. Casualwear did better than formalwear, with sportswear, combat trousers and 'hoody' tops selling well. Cold weather helped knitwear sales. Accessories were strong, especially handbags.

9 December 2005

Retail gloom means no rate rise

The continuing retail gloom means there is no chance of the Bank of England raising interest rates when the monetary policy committee meets this week. Two thirds of ecomomists polled by research house Ideaglobal believe the next move in rates will be a cut, but not until August.

Groups representing minority shareholders in French department store group Galeries Lafayette are worried that Credit Mutuel's abrubt purchase of a 16 per cent stake in the company could spark changes in who runs the family-controlled firm. Shareholders fear the two founding families, who split a 61 per cent stake in the company, will brak apart this year and one could ally with Credit Mutuel.

9 January 2005

FSA Warns Retailers To Report Sales Downturn

Tne Financial Services Authority has warned retailers that they must advise the City of any downturn in trading during pre-Christmas sales as
soon as possible. The City regulator has told retailers chief executives of FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 retailers that they must not wait for the traditonal
Januarytrading statements if December sales are below expectations.

FSA's market division director Huey Evans wrote:"Should a company's trading performance over December besubstantially below expectations but
the company believes that, by taking remedial action to increase its sales and/or reduce the cost of sales in January, that it will be able to meet
expectations for its year end, the poor trading performance for December should still be announced without delay."

The letter also warned that the size of any price movement that might result is not relevant, specifically warning against a 10 per cent rule-of-thumb guide often used. Any changes to a trading strategy or business model that might affect the share price should be announced immediately. Huey Evans said: "An example of this might be a decision to embark upon a long-term strategy of price reduction."

The letter said: "The UK Listing Authority recognises that trading performance over the Christmas and new year period is particularly important for retail companies. We therefore feel it may be helpful to remind companies of the need to ensure compliance with the continuing obligations under the listing rules at this time."

The letter, sent to leading retailers including Tesco, Marks & Spencer, GUS, Sainsbury's, Boots and WH Smith, is likely to increase tensions between the retail sector and the City. Many retailers have complained about the City's short-termism, with analysts expecting consistent sales increases regardless of seasonal or cyclical changes in trading.

The City's sometimes unreasonable expectations have been cited by a number of retailers which have exited the stock market to go private
over the past two years. Those no longer listed include Selfridges, Debenhams, Harvey Nichols and DFS.

23 December 2004

Retailers Should Wait With Early Sales

Those retailers who decided to wait with markdowns ands resists early sales and heavy discounting may have found a winning strategy, according to the latest figures from traffic analyst SPSL. The latest Retail Traffic Index shows that the number of shopping trips for the week commencing December 5 was down just 1.3 per cent year-on-year, and up 5 per centt on the previous week.

Last year, many retailers held early sales to drive cashflow, leading Tim Denison, director of knowledge management at SPSL, to believe that last week's Christmas shopping figures show retailers have won a vital, covert struggle with consumers.

Denison said: "Everyone is well aware that Christmas shopping gets progressively later each year and retailers are mostly aware that they've created this situation by being panicked year by year into bigger and bigger pre-Christmas sales. Further evidence of this, if it were needed, is that shopper numbers for the last three weeks have been down against last year.

"However, retailers have taken a long hard look at this no-win situation and are stimulating cash flow with flash sales instead of full-on discounting. Consequently the deficit has narrowed and though footfall is still down this last week taken as a whole, we started to see year-on-year daily gains from Thursday onwards.
"December 9 may well go down as the tipping point of Christmas trading 2004 - the date that most retailers' shared strategy of 'holding the line' started paying dividends.

"It is clear that the flash sales have injected momentum into Christmas shopping this year and the results, generally, have given retailers encouragement to hold firm and desist moving to broad scale discounting, just two weeks out. SPSL is holding its forecast that retail traffic for December as a whole will be just marginally down on 2003, by 0.3 per cent.

15 December 2004

Joy Plans For Revamp

Urban lifestyle retailer Joy has commissioned designers SHH to revamp its interiors concept as it prepares to expand outside London. Joy, currently with six stores in the capital, opens the first of its next-generation stores this month in Manchester at The Triangle Shopping Centre, with openings planned for early 2005 in Leeds and Birmingham.

Joy targets a young adult audience - mostly female, in the 25-35 range. Head buyer and co-founder Maureen O'Brien, describes Joy's ideal customer as "a 'Bridget Jones' type character who is perpetually 29." The stores sell cutting-edge clothes along with vintage, retro and quirky fashion, homewares and lifestyle accessories.

SHH creative director Neil Hogan said: "'Because of the very tight timeframe, Manchester will feature much that is new but also some evolution from the existing Joy concept. Further development of the concept will occur as each store opens.

"Above all we are looking to bring increased theatre, colour and drama to a brand which is bursting with life and attitude. We shall be adding some tongue-in-cheek 'bling' to the rather bare and naked existing concept, along with a little more retail logic in terms of circulation, signage and display."

8 December 2004

Retailers expect sales lift

Despite unfavourable results for the fourth month in a row, retailers remain upbeat about expectations for December.

Bloomberg Retail Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), the monthly retail barometer, revealed that sales were down for the fourth month in November. PMI questioned more than 1,000 retailers in France, Germany and Italy for the survey. Together these countries account for roughly 75% of total EU retail sales. Many retailers have had to reduce staff to cut costs.

Of the three countries surveyed, Germany outperformed the rest with a moderate sales rise in November. Margins suffered across the board in November, resulting from an increase in prices for resale goods and promotional and discounting expenses.

7 December 2004

BRC Calls For Fairer Retail Property Rates

Kevin Hawkins, director general of the British Retail Consortium, has called for a 'fairer balance' in the relationship between the property industry and retailers, suggesting that sales turnover would offer a fairer basis for rental negotiations. In a speech at retail property organisation BCSC's 2004 Conference & Retail Showcase in Manchester, Hawkins, director general of the BRC since April, called into question the relationship which exists between retailers and the property industry.

He warned the 1,900 delegates attending the conference on retail and shopping centre destinations that time was 'running out' for inflexible commercial leases - particularly upward-only rent reviews. He added that the industry has 'one last chance' to make its voluntary code on commercial leases, created in 1995, work.
Hawkins said: "Where rent reviews still exist, 99 per cent are upward-only. The government clearly isn't happy with the status quo, although whether, as some property investors believe, Ministers 'have got it in for the property industry', seems a bit far-fetched."

Adding that most BRC members aren't happy with the status quo either, Hawkins said that the organisation's own survey of 61 companies representing one-third of all retail sales in the UK, was fairly indicative of the problems.
"In the past 12 months only 22 per cent had successfully negotiated flexible leases in line with the code of practice. The perception among many retailers, large and small, is that they carry a disproportionate share of the investment risk."

"If the property industry seriously wants a partnership with the retail industry - and I believe at least some of its members do - then we need a fairer balance between the two."

3 November 2004

Passage To India

Ethina, the first retail outlet in the UK to sell high-end couture garments designed and produced by New Delhi's top designers, has opened in the Great Western Arcade, Birmingham. Founded by Harprit Sall, who has a long experience of the New Delhi fashion industry from her frequent visits to India from a young age to see and purchase items for herself.

During a visit to New Delhi earlier this year, that included meetings with each of the designers on her 'wish list', Sall secured the designers' approval to export to the UK so that she could stock and retail garments and accessories. She said: "This is a major step for Indian couture with many of the designers simply not exporting, certainly not to the UK and only Milan and Paris for some."

Shopfitting products and solutions company Savekers Group has developed a chic interior design scheme that reflects the class and style of its beautiful evening and casual designer wear on sale.

Sall said: "I was keen that the look and feel of the shop should be both sympathetic and empathetic with the elegant and stylish ladies designer wear that is exclusive to Ethina in the UK." Future plans include approaching some of Mumbay's leading designers to add some of their garments to the Ethina range,

31 October 2004

Billionaire Green honours payback

Retail billionaire Philip Green paid back the entire £808 million that he borrowed to buy retail group Arcadia. Arcadia owns TopShop, Burton, Wallis and Miss Selfridge, among others. Two years ago Green paid £850 million for Arcadia, and with the recent repayment of the entire borrowed amount, he is able to add hundreds of millions of pounds in dividends from the group to his acquisitions portfolio.

Green and his family, who have an estimated personal worth of £ 3.6 billion, earned £40 million in dividends from department store chain BHS, which they own separately from Arcadia. The latter will be releasing results later this week.

Green's recently rebuffed bid for ailing high-street retailer Marks & Spencer, earlier this year, was well publicised. Speculations that he will return to bid for the company again may be hindered by the large amount of private shareholders in M&S, with an estimated stake of between 20% and 25%. Advisors to M&S expect the smaller shareholders to hold on to their shares in a pending £2 billion buyback tender offer, whereas institutional shareholders are expected to tender their M&S shares in the offer. This will result in the smaller shareholders owning a larger stake of approximately 30%, because their shares in issue will rise proportionately.

Green believes that the board will have to recommend any takeover offer in order for the company to succeed, but in light of the fact that his archrivals, Stuart Rose and Paul Myners, sit on the board, this recommendation is not likely to take place. According to one advisor, private investors usually follow suggestions made by the board, and predicts that the board will form a blocking stake next week.

www.business.timesonline.co.uk
18 October 2004

Allders Placed For Faster Recovery

The strategy to restore the performance of department store group Allders has "reached deeper and taken longer" than expected, hitting the full year performance of owner Minerva. The property company, which backed the takeover of Allders by Scarlett Retail last year, has reported a loss of GBP21.4m for the year to the end of June, despite a GBP1.2m profit from its core retail estate business.

Since the acquisition by Scarlett, fronted by former Debenhams chief executive Terry Green and former Asda finance director Phil Cox, Allders has invested in new clothing brands and ranges in a drive to take the chain's positioning more upmarket.

Minerva chairman Sir David Garrard said the measures implemented by the new management team "in order to effect the necessary change required to position Allders for growth, have reached deeper and taken longer than expected. This process has been dramatic and widespread, involving a complete overhaul of the merchandise offer, its margin structure and overall pricing policy."

Terry Green, Allders chief executive said: "The speed with which this transformation has been effected has had an impact on the short term profitability of the business. However, by addressing these requirements quickly, Allders is better placed for a faster recovery. We are confident that the benefits from having refocused product ranges and relaying stores will begin to come through from the autumn."

1 October 2004

Bad Summer For Fashion Retailers

Fashion retailers are set to record a dismal summer as the unpredictable weather takes its toll on sales. In recent weeks the weather has taken in soaring temperatures and torrential downpours in rapid succession, and research by property consultants Donaldsons reveals fashion retailers have been worst hit. James Brown, head of retail research at the firm, said the retailers likely to be worst affected by bad weather are those with inflexible supply chains that do not allow them to react quickly.

23 August 2004

Retailtainment

Recognising that 'back to school' retail marketing campaigns can be a downbeat experience for kids on summer holiday shopping trips, Asda has launched an innovative in-store marketing campaign to make the experience more interesting.

'Retailtainment' currently on show in stores includes seaside style picture board units which junior shoppers can poke their heads through to appear with the body of who they want to be when they grow up.

Different characters will be appearing during the campaign, and supercentre units will have interchangeable panels. There will also be activity units in supercentres where kids and parents can interactively experience brands connected with the featured occupation of the week.

11 August 2004

Mixed Fortunes For US Retailers

US consumers deserted mid-market retailers in favour of discounters in July, with Gap among those telling a tale of woe. Gap reported a 5 per cent decline in same-store US sales in July, with international same-store sales falling even more sharply, by around 12 per cent. As a result, the retailer has warned that its second-quarter profits will be below analysts' forecasts.

Other US mid-market clothing retailers including Talbots and Ann Taylor also reported same-store declines. However, discount retailers fared better, with Wal-Mart saying July same-store sales rose 3.2 per cent, slightly up on forecasts, with back-to-school lines helping to drive sales. Target's same-store sales rose 3.8 per cent, also better than estimates.

At the top end of the market there was also better news, with Neiman Marcus reporting a 16.6 per cent gain in same-store sales, and Saks a 5.5 per cent gain. Among the department store operators JC Penney saw an 8.1 per cent gain, with Federated Department Stores up 3.7 per cent.

5 August 2004

BMB Geared For Expansion

BMB, the British concessions business retailer founded in 1894, currently operates with a turnover of GBP93m and is one of Britain's most successful fashion exporting companies. With brands such as Alexander Savile row, Jeff Banks, and Baracuta, their markets in the UK and Europe, US and Far East are expanding rapidly.

The UK business, who's retail partners include Selfridges, House of Fraser, Burton, Debenhams, Bhs and others, are targeted for aggressive expansion, as BMB is restructuring and expanding its holdings as a company which controls product through design, sourcing and logistics all the way to the shopfloor. The first step will be to launch Studio Jeff Banks womenswear into 21 selected Debenhams stores in September.

Diversification from men's formalwear into casualwear is also underway, the Baracuta label - best known for its iconic G9, blouson Harrington jackets, is to be relaunched as a major, premium brand for autumn/winter 2005. Baracuta won a UK Fashion Export Award for menswear on the strength of its licensing agreements in Italy and Japan. Kevin stone of sp Brands will be working with the BMB team on the re-positioning and the launch.

Overseas growth continues for Alexandre Savile row, which, with its royal Warrant and flagship stores in London's Savile row, BMB's premium brand. The is currently available at concessions in Selfridges and Marshal Fields in the US.

28 July 2004

Baugur Acquires Karen Millen

Baugur, the Icelandic retail group, has bought the Karen Millen fashion chain in a GBP120m deal. The acquisition creates a womenswear retail business with four strong brands, combining the Baugur-owned Oasis and Coast with Whistles, also owned by Karen Millen, as well as the Karen Millen chain itself. The combined businesses will have total sales of more than GBP350m and operate 550 stores

Kevin Stanford and Karen Millen, who own 60 per cent of the company, have agreed a deal which will see the Oasis group, owned by Baugur, pay GBP120m in a mixture of cash and shares. The Karen Millen shareholders will have a 25 per cent stake in the enlarged group.

Karen Millen operates more than 100 stores worldwide, with turnover predicted to be around GBP120m this year. Whistles, was acquired by Karen Millen in July 2002 for GBP6m, and is forecast to have a turnover of GBP35m by the end of 2005. Stanford, chief executive of Karen Millen said: "We've brought the business a very long way over the past 24 years and it's now time to move on. We started this business in our teens and we don't want to do the same thing all our lives.

Derek Lovelock chief executive of the Oasis group, said: "Karen Millen and Whistles are two successful brands which complement our own brands perfectly and this acquisition creates a very attractive portfolio."

"There will be substantial synergies in adding these two brands to the Oasis infrastructure. We will continue to build on this strong base and expect to open 50 new stores per year across all four brands." Baugur has further acquired control of toy chain Hamleys and jeweller Goldsmiths, and also holds stakes in House of Fraser, Somerfield and Big Food Group.

29 June 2004

Luggage Specialist To Expand Overseas

Antler, the luggage specialist, is packing its bags for foreign expansion on the back of a GBP44 million MBO funded by Barclays Private Equity. The retailer has 24 factory outlet stores and more than 70 UK department store concessions. Joint managing director Pat Bridge said the deal would trigger ambitious expansion.

14 June 2004

Reiss Goes Global

High street fashion retailer Reiss is to open stores in the middle East under a franchise agreement as it embarks on international expansion. It has also signed up for a store in SoHo, New York, which will open next spring.

1 June 2004

US Internet Retailer Reacts Against Spyware

US retailer L.L. Bean is setting an international precedent by suing four online marketers including Nordstrom and JC Penney over their alleged use of pop-up ads enabled by a software infiltrator, called Claria. Bean's complaint alleges that pop-up ads for the companies that appear on LLBean.com infringe on L.L. Bean's trademark rights.

Software such as Claria's - software that's also known as "spyware" - is often bundled in when web users voluntarily download an application they want, such as the ability to share files. The spyware "reads" the user's activity on a web site, such as Bean's for example, and it can trigger pop-up ads for competing products and companies depending on what it sees the user is searching or browsing for on the site.

Because users may not be aware they've downloaded the ad-triggering application into their browser themselves, if annoyed by the pop-up ads that appear while visiting a site such as Bean's, they may mistakenly blame the site itself for serving up the ads.

"It's bad enough that there are companies out there wantonly poaching consumer activity on our site and redirecting it to themselves. But even worse is the fact that our reputation is injured by a consumer perception that suggests L.L. Bean is authorizing these activities or is even receiving compensation for it," says Mary Lou Kelley, L.L. Bean vice president of e-commerce.

20 May 2004

BRC Questions Need For Rate Rise

With the Bank of England expected to raise interest rates today, the British Retail Consortium believes the widespread discounting seen in retail sectors from supermarkets to clothing and entertainment counters the argument that high consumer spending is in danger of fuelling inflation.

Kevin Hawkins, director general of the BRC said: "The figures for April deliver an unambiguous message for the MPC - there is no consumer-led inflationary pressure and no justification for a rise in interest rates.
"Recent months have seen High Street prices driven by factors outside retailers' and the Bank of England's control, such as the weather and Government-led cost increases. April saw competition, especially in the grocery and fashion sectors, deliver a fall in the inflation rate. All the signals suggest we are likely to see that trend continuing.

"With increased levels of price competition set to deliver further restraint and downward pressure on prices, a rate rise now is both unnecessary and unhelpful." The BRC figures show that overall shop prices in April were slightly lower than in March, with the annual rate of inflation decline. The price of some staple items such as bread, are being pushed down by increased competition in the grocery sector as Tesco and Asda respond to Morrisons' expansion with price cuts campaigns.

Poor weather led to an increased focus on price promotion in clothing after Easter, especially womenswear, with sales of new spring and summer ranges off to a slow start. There was also Increased promotional activity on health and beauty products, as well as in the leisure goods sector, with multibuy promotions being increasingly used to attract shoppers.

5 May 2004

Ethel Austin Stays True In Potential Buyout

Value retailer Ethel Austin is currently in talks with potential buyers for the company, which could be valued at GBP150m. The clothing retailer, which has been trading for over 70 years, has stated its full commitment to quality, its products and customer service, that will not be compromised in its future business decisions.

22 April 2004

Could London Shape Up For Retailers?

London may still reign as the capital of cool and innovation, but sophisticated on the retail front it is not. With retail being the second largest sector to the capital's economy, retailers have long been underrated for their importance to the city's booming life. One needs only to look at the surge of retail crime and unreliable public transport to see the drawbacks they are causing for healthy trading.

Launching the 'Retail Manifesto for London' to an audience of retailers and politicians, London Retail Consortium (LRC) chairman Luke Mayhew, said: "London is the best city in the world and retail is a core part of that. Retail matters - everyone living and visiting London shops. Ignoring retailing will jeopardise the future of London as a global capital."

The LRC was created to help retailer co-ordinate response to issues such as visitor confidence in London, and the state of the transport infrastructure. The launch of the Congestion Charge, one of mayor Ken Livingstone's flagship policies, was widely believed to have cut customer numbers to key London retail destinations such as Oxford Street.

LRC is focussing on effective retail promotion and marketing to visitors, clamping down on retail crime, improving the efficiency of the public transport system and ensuring greater investment in London's physical environment.

20 April 2004

Primark To Expand

Value retailer Primark is looking to expand as sales have grown in the six months to February to GBP399m, with profits up 19 per cent to 50m.

The retail group, which currently operates 116 stores, is searching for suitable new stores to bring Primark's brands to the high street. Six new UK stores are currently being fitted for opening later this year.

16 April 2004

Retailers Conduct Mid-Season Sale

When a national retailer conducts a mid-season sale, the general concensus suggests a poor turnover of clothing sales. With Marks & Spencer clearing their winter stock in a mid-season sale, The Daily Telegraph raises concern about their retail performance with the retailer offering big reductions on womenswear and other product lines.

M&S claims the reductions are normal practice to reduce winter stock and make way for the new spring lines. The group further iterated the sale would be 'short and sharp' and that it takes place at the same time each year, and is not a new endeavour.

Other retailers have followed suit, with Next running a one-day only sale at the weekend to clear stock and Allders conducting a sale with discounted stock and their department store.

30 March 2004

Retailers To Upgrade Online Infrastructure

Almost 70% of American retailers plan to upgrade or replace their Internet infrastructure, including servers and routers for communicating on the public web, and 63% plan to upgrade or replace their corporate intranets, says a study released this month by AMR Research Inc. and the National Retail Federation.

British retailers are far behind their American counterparts when it comes to web technology or maximising sales and could do with an upgrade of retail planning systems or dare we say it, create or replace websites.

22 March 2004

Retailers Criticised For Store Cards

Retailers are expected to be criticised this week by an Office of Fair Trading report on store cards. The report will suggest retailers push store cards aggressively to customers without properly explaining interest rates and charges Retailers' cards are notorious for charging interest rates of about 30 per cent when borrowers do not pay off bills in full each month. Stores use the cards to boost spending by offering discounts on purchases to those who sign up for a card.

15 March 2004

Retailers Risk Fraud Without Pin & Chip

UK retailers will be running the risk of fraud, if they do not upgrade to chip and PIN technology.

The technology requires customers to swipe a card and key in a PIN number - the banking industry hopes the change will help to cut fraud by up to 60 per cent. Most large chains are in the process of switching, as are smaller retailers which typically rent their equipment. Some mid-sized retailers are hanging on until the 2005 deadline.

25 February 2004

Strong Growth In UK Airport Retailing

International airports group BAA reported excellent growth in UK airport retailing for the last quarter. The maturing new space within Heathrow Terminal 3 and Stansted pushed net retail income 9.5 per cent higher to GBP138 million (GBP126m in 2002). Net retail income per passenger rose by 3.1 per cent to GBP4.23 in 2002).

12 February 2004

Turkey Price Hike May Hit Fast Fashion

Retailers with fast fashion operations are being warned that they could be hit by a price hike in Turkish product, after a round of wage inflation and an appreciation of the Turkish lira.

High street suppliers say prices of Turkish product have risen by up to 25 per cent in the past year to 18 months. One said: "The wages of textile workers in Turkey have gone up by as much as 30 per cent in the past year and, with a rising lira, there are going to be some major price rises. At a squeeze, we will be able to get away with a 20 per cent increase."

The rise in prices of Turkish product is expected to hit retailers with larger concentrations of sourcing in the country, and those that use it for fast fashion product.

Asda sources a high proportion of its George at Asda product from Turkey. In 200, Next pledged to invest around GBP 20 million over the next three years to establish sourcing operations in Romania, Turkey and Sri Lanka.

3 February 2004

Strong Sales Ease Christmas Blues

Booming January sales are bringing relief to fashion retailers after a poor Christmas, with markdowns being kept in check. Changing shopping patterns are being blamed for the difficulties in December, with retailers suffering as shoppers waited for bargains.

As a result, retailers have missed out on full-price sales but cleared stock quickly without having to increase their markdowns against last year.

According to research commissioned exclusively from agency Retailmap, the depth of womenswear discounting is slightly less than last year, while menswear discounting remains the same.

12 January 2004-01-12

Fashion Feels Forced Sale

To go on sale or not to go on sale, was the question for retailers as they failed to see a significant pick-up trade in the last full week before Christmas. Although some were still looking to the last few days before the holidays, most were conceding that it was too late to preserve margin.

Department stores had already indicated to the market that things were tough through their additional promotion days and mega-spectaculars. This week it was the turn of young fashion chains to capitulate. Select, MK One, Etam and D2 went on full sale with their larger high street rivals going about quieter but no less aggressive discounting.

As one retailer said: "Christmas clothing sales have been blighted by the popularity of cheap DVD players. You can pick up a DVD player for as little as GBP35 or GBP40 for your child's bedroom, rather than buy them a top or winter coat for the same price.

22 December 2003

Rugby Victory Parade Boosted London Retailers

As more than 750,000 rugby supporters packed London's main shopping streets, figures released yesterday by FootFall, show that the number of shoppers in central London was up by more over 16 per cent. The figures suggest the crowds who flocked to the capital to see England's rugby world cup trophy parade stuck around for some Christmas shopping.

David Smyth, marketing manager at FootFall said: "You normally expect retail to suffer when you have large crowds like this and streets blocked off as we saw last month with the Bush visit and earlier in the year with the anti-war demonstrations. "However it appears that once all the celebrating was over, the crowds decided it was time for some retail therapy."

The numbers of shoppers in the central London area are still slightly down on last year as they have been for much of 2003. However, the gap has narrowed considerably to just minus 5 per cent, from the average of minus 11 per cent that had been seen in the six months since the London congestion charging started. Smyth said: "This may be the turning point for December that London retailers have been waiting for as we move into the last two full weeks trading before Christmas."

10 December 2003

Jane Norman Heads Fashion Profits League

Jane Norman has emerged as the clothing retailer with the best pre-tax profit margin in Britain. A survey by consultancy The Prospect Shop shows that for 2001/2002 the young fashion chain had a pre-tax profit margin of 22.4%.

This compares with designer brand and retailer Joseph's figure of 21.7 and is almost three times the industry average of 8.2 per cent outlined in the report.Brands and designers with their own retail businesses feature high on he list. Ted Baker is fourth with 15.2 per cent, while Paul Smith is fifth with 15.1 per cent.The report found some encouraging trends in the industry, notable that the average compound sales growth rate for 1999/2000 to 2001/2002 was 17 per cent, while profits grew faster at 27 per cent. The larger companies surveyed tended to underperform and were largely unable to equal average growth rates.

9 December 2003

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