Company Results

• AO World have reported a 11.2% increase in revenue for AO.com for the three months to 31 December 2017. UK revenue increased by 11.4% for the same period.

• B&M have reported a 22.7% increase in group sales to £969.8m at constant currency for the 13 weeks to 23 December 2017. UK like-for-like revenue increased by 3.9% for the same period.

• Boohoo.com have reported a 103.0% increase in group total revenue to £491.1m for the ten months to 31 December 2017. UK revenue increased by 103.0% to £299.0m for the same period.

• Booker Group have reported a 3.4% increase in total sales for the 16 weeks to 29 December 2017. Group like-for-like sales increased by 3.8% for the same period.

• Card Factory have reported a 5.9% increase in sales for the 11 months to 31 December 2017. Like-for-like sales increased by 2.7% for the same period.

• Fat Face have reported a 12.0% increase in sales to £120.0m for the 26 weeks to 02 December 2017. Like-for-like sales increased by 7.0%, while E-commerce sales increased by 27.0% for the same period.

• Footasylum have reported a 33.4% increase in revenues to £89.8m for the 18 weeks to 30 December 2017.

• Fortnum & Mason have reported a 13.0% increase in like-for-like sales for the five weeks to 31 December 2017. Online sales increased by 23.0% for the same period. (Source: Global Data)

• Game Digital have reported a 3.8% increase in group gross transaction value (GTV) for the 23 weeks to 06 January 2018. UK retail GTV increased by 0.6% for the same period.

• Gear4music have reported a 42.0% increase in total sales to £34.6m for the four months to 31 December 2017. UK sales increased by 25.0% to £18.8m for the same period.

• House of Fraser have reported a 2.9% decrease in sales for the six weeks to 23 December 2017. Online sales decreased by 7.5% for the same period.

• John Lewis Partnership have reported a 2.5% increase in gross sales to £2.0bn for the six weeks to 30 December 2017. Waitrose gross sales increased by 1.4% to £928.0m, while John Lewis gross sales increased by 3.6% to £1.0m for the same period.

• Joules Group have reported a 19.2% increase in total retail sales for the seven weeks to 07 January 2018.

• Lidl have reported a 16.0% increase in total sales in December 2017. Total fresh meat and poultry sales grew by 17.0% for the same period. (Source: Independent)

• Majestic Wine have reported a 4.1% increase in group sales on an underlying basis for the 10 weeks to 01 January 2018. Majestic retail sales increased by 1.2% for the same period.

• Marks and Spencer Group have reported a 0.1% decrease in revenue to £3.2bn for the 13 weeks to 30 December 2017. UK revenue increased by 1.1% to £2.9bn for the same period.

• Marshall Motor Holdings have reported a 5.8% increase in like-for-like used unit sales for the first six months of 2017.

• Morrisons have reported a 2.6% increase in total sales (excluding fuel) for the ten weeks to 07 January 2018. Group like-for-like sales increased by 2.8% for the same period.

• Moss Bros Group have reported a 1.1% increase in total sales for the 23 weeks to 06 January 2018. Like-for like sales decreased by 0.1%, while total retail sales increased by 1.6% for the same period.

• Mothercare have reported a 11.0% decrease in total UK sales for the 12 weeks to 30 December 2017. UK like-for-like sales decreased by 7.2% for the same period.

• Quiz have reported a 31.2% increase in group revenue at constant currency for the seven weeks to 06 January 2018. Online revenue increased by 119.0% for the same period.

• Sainsbury’s have reported a 1.2% increase in sales (excluding fuel) for the 15 weeks to 06 January 2018. Like-for-like sales increased by 1.1%, while grocery sales increased by 2.3% for the same period.

• Shoe Zone have reported a 1.3% decrease in revenue to £157.8m for the 52 weeks to 30 September 2017. Statutory profit before tax stood at £9.5m for the same period.

• Space NK have reported a 11.4% increase in sales to £96.4m for the 52 weeks to 25 March 2017. UK sales increased by 7.9% to £79.6m for the same period. (Source: Global Data)

• Superdry have reported a 20.4% increase in group revenue to £402.0m for the 26 weeks to 28 October 2017. Underlying profit before tax increased by 20.5% to £25.3m for the same period.

• Ted Baker have reported a 10.5% increase in retail sales at constant currency for the eight weeks to 06 January 2018. E-commerce sales increased by 36.4% for the same period.

• The Theo Paphitis Retail Group have reported a 1.7% increase in sales for the six weeks to 24 December 2017. Sales at Ryman and Robert Dyas increased by 4.8% and 2.0% respectively, while decreased by 2.8% at Boux Avenue for the same period.

• Topps Tiles have reported a 3.4% increase in like-for-like revenues for the 13 weeks to 30 December 2017

Lifestyle LFLs were up by +2.74% this week from an already strong base of +5.55% for the same week last year. The result marked its third positive week in succession, with a number of gift retailers and department stores performing particularly well this week.
Fashion LFLs were up by +1.28% this week from a base of +2.59% for the same week last year. 46% of respondents reported positive LFL growth this week, with some standout performances boosting the overall result.
Homeware LFLs were down by -3.37% this week, but from a very strong base of +10.80% for the equivalent week last year. The result marked the second successive negative result for homeware in a row.
Non-store sales were up by +18.02% this week, falling short of the +20% growth threshold. The growth this week was coming off of a base of +20.00% for the same week last year. However, non-store fashion had a much better week, with growth of +23.83%, while lifestyle, and homeware in particular, held back the overall growth rate for non-store this week.

Clothing, Footwear & Accessories

• Aspinal of London, the accessories retailer, have opened a new flagship on Regent Street, London. The two-floor flagship has been designed by consultancy Caulder Moore. (Source: Retail Week)
• Blaiz, the Latin American fashion retailer, have announced plans to open a new store at London’s King’s Road. Spanning 2,485 sq,ft, the store will launch in February 2018 and will be the retailer’s first permanent physical store. (Source: Retail Bulletin)

• L’Occitane, the French beauty brand, have opened a new Regent Street store that aims to attract a younger shopper than their current mid-40s demographic. (Source: Retail Week)
• Marks and Spencer (M&S) have announced the appointment of Humphrey Singer as their Chief Finance Officer. Humphrey, who is currently Group Finance Director at Dixons Carphone PLC, will take up his appointment on a date to be confirmed by M&S. (Source: Company Press Release)

• H&M have apologised and removed the controversial racial image from their website depicting a young black boy wearing a green hoodie with the slogan ‘coolest monkey in the jungle’. With the racial connotations associated with the term monkey as a derogatory word used to describe black people, H&M removed the image from their website given the insensitivity amid consumer fallout.

• Marks & Spencer have also launched a technology transformation initiative, which will consolidate their supplier base and outsource more than half of their IT team. The overhaul will see the employment of 250 of the retailer’s 430-strong IT team transferred to Indian technology firm, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). (Source: Company Press Release)
• New Look have handed over the lease for their new London headquarters at King’s Cross to Google’s parent company, Alphabet, following a period of troubled trading for the retailer. (Source: Retail Week)
• Superdrug have announced plans to unveil their first beauty studio at their branch in Leicester’s Fosse Park in January 2018. The beauty studio will offer variety of services and treatments including hair salon, waxing, piercing and a nail bar. (Source: Retail Week)

Electrical & Entertainment

• The Entertainer have announced that their toy shops in the UK have raised more than £2.0m for children’s charities by rounding up their purchases to the nearest pound with Pennies, the digital charity box. A digital upgrade of the traditional collection box, Pennies gives customers the option to donate a few pence to charity when paying by card (including contactless transactions) or mobile wallet. (Source: Company Press Release)

Food & Drink

• Asda have launched their first automated parcel tower at their Trafford Park store, which is designed to speed up online collections and returns for customers in the UK. The 16ft tall towers have been trialled at more than 100 locations by Asda’s owner Walmart in the US. (Source: Company Press Release)

• Co-op have announced plans to expand their vegan wine range to 100 products by the end of 2018, with eight products due to launch in February 2018. The grocer has been working with winemakers across the world to develop a wider range of vegan-friendly “fining” agents used to filter wines. (Source: The Guardian)

• Lidl have announced plans to build their largest warehouse in the UK at Luton. The one million sq.ft warehouse on the 58-acre site will be Lidl’s 16th warehouse in Britain and is expected to create 1,000 jobs. (Source: BBC)

• Ocado have developed a robot prototype which will be used to maintain and repair automation equipment in Ocado’s automated warehouses. The grocer’s technology arm has partnered with academic institutions including University College London (UCL) and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) to develop the machine. (Source: The Guardian)

• Tesco have launched the largest own-brand supermarket range of 100.0% plant-based meals in 600 stores. Their ‘Wicked Kitchen’ range includes 18 vegan-friendly ready meals along with wraps, sandwiches and salads. (Source: Global Data)

• Waitrose have launched the pilot of a personal nutritionist service as a part of a drive to help their customers eat better and live healthier lifestyles at their supermarkets in Canary Wharf and Kingston-upon-Thames. Shoppers will be able to book one-to-one consultations, which include a health questionnaire, a personalised diet and lifestyle plan and a “starter pack” of healthy food and recipes. (Source: The Grocer)

Household

• Debenhams have announced the appointment of Richard Jones as their Global Sourcing Trading Director with immediate effect. Richard will oversee product development and sourcing teams across Debenhams’ overseas hubs, which include Hong Kong, Shanghai, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. (Source: Company Press Release)

• Debenhams have also announced that their Independent Non-Executive Director, Mark Rolfe, has stepped down from the board with immediate effect. David Adams, appointed to the board on 19 October 2017 as an Independent Non-Executive Director, replaces Mark as the Chair of the Audit Committee. (Source: Company Press Release)

• Pets at Home have announced plans to close their seven small-format Barkers stores, pet stores designed exclusively for dogs, which were launched in March 2014. The seven stores will be closed by March 2018. (Source: Retail Week)

Courtesy of ‘Barclays‘