Company Results

• DFS Furniture have reported a 4.0% increase in gross sales for the 26 weeks to 27 January 2018.

• Dune London have reported a 5.2% increase in sales for the year ending 27 January 2018. Like-for-like sales increased by 6.5% for the same period. (Source: Retail Gazette)

• Glyn Hopkin have reported a 6.4% decrease in turnover to £426.5m for the year to 31 December 2017. Pre-tax profits decreased by 55.2% to £3.3m for the same period. (Source: Motor Trader)

• New Look have reported a 6.3% decrease in group revenue to £1.1bn for the 39 weeks to 23 December 2017. UK like-for-like sales decreased by 10.7% for the same period.

• Pernod Ricard has continued its healthy start to fiscal-2018, with sales in the first six months of the year recording a mid-single-digit rise.

• Ocado have reported a 15.2% increase in sales to £1.4bn for the 53 weeks ending 03 December 2017. Profit before tax stood at £1.0m for the same period.

Lifestyle LFLs were down by -3.72% this week from a base of +2.32% for the same week last year. A challenging run for lifestyle continued as it posted its third negative in-store week in succession. However, the sample was polarised, with 50% reporting positive LFL sales growth this week.

Fashion LFLs were down by -0.55% this week from a negative base of -2.66% for the same week last year. This was the third negative in-store result for fashion in a row.

Homeware LFLs were down by -2.10% this week, but from a solid base of +3.75% for the equivalent week last year. Homeware has been negative in three of the last five weeks.

Non-store sales were up by +15.35% this week from a base of +16.20% for the same week last year. The result means that non-store sales have not broken through the +20% growth threshold in any week so far in 2018. However, non-store fashion sales continued to be ahead of the pack, up by +23.99% this week.

Clothing, Footwear & Accessories

• Dr. Martens have announced the appointment of Mathieu Garcia as their new Global Marketing Director with effect from 08 February 2018. Mathieu will be responsible for driving and enhancing footwear retailer’s business value through development of a brand strategy. (Source: Retail Gazette)

• House of Fraser have announced that their Chief Operating Officer, Peter Gross, and their Chief Information Officer, Julian Burnett, will step down from business with immediate effect. (Source: Retail Gazette)

• Clarks Originals teamed up with Marvel for the launch of Black Panther, to create the Limited Edition Trigenic Evo shoe, inspired by The King of Wakanda himself. (Source: Hypebeast)

• House of Fraser have also announced the promotions of Gary Slattery as the Executive Director for Retail and Gary Monk as Executive Director of Operations with immediate effect. (Source: Retail Gazette)

• Lululemon have announced that their Chief Executive Officer, Laurent Potdevin, has stepped down from the business with immediate effect. Glenn Murphy, Executive Chairman will take control of the company while Lululemon searches for a successor. (Source: Financial Times)

• Marks & Spencer have announced a new partnership with data science company, Starcount, in efforts to gain a better understanding of their customer base as part of turnaround efforts. The partnership will utilise customer data from M&S’s loyalty scheme, Sparks, which currently has over six million members. (Source: Drapers)

• Morrisons have announced plans to launch their own-brand clothing range, Nutmeg, on an ecommerce platform from September 2018. The retailer has partnered with cloud commerce platform Kooomo on Nutmeg’s online launch. (Source: Drapers)

• N Brown have announced the appointments of Adam Wayne as their new Chief Information Officer and Alyson Fadil as their new Chief People Officer with effect from April 2018. (Source: Retail Week)

• Net-a-Porter have announced the appointment of their new Buying Director, Nayla Touma, with effect from February 2018. Touma will be responsible for Net-a-Porter’s buying strategy for shoes, handbags and accessories. (Source: Drapers)

• New Look have announced that Mark Axon will be re-joining as Retail Director for UK & Republic of Ireland with effect from 19 February 2018, replacing their Managing Director for UK & Republic of Ireland, Danny Barrasso, who is stepping down from the business with as of 09 February 2018. (Source: Company Press Release)

• Patagonia have opened a new UK store in Manchester. The 3,300 sq.ft store is located at 51 King Street and spans three floors. The store will sell items across its climbing, cycling and camping ranges. (Source: Retail Week)

• River Island have opened their first standalone children’s store, River Island Kids, in Intu Braehead shopping centre, Glasgow. The 3,000 sq.ft River Island Kids store will sell babywear as well as apparel for children aged from three to teens. (Source: Retail Week)

Electrical & Entertainment

• Toys R Us have revealed plans to sell their UK and European division. The retailer’s UK and European businesses are being sold through separate processes being run by financial advisory firms, Lazard and Alvarez & Marsal. (Source: Retail Week)

Food & Drink

• Asda have announced to slash their own-brand packaging by 10.0% by the end of 2018. The grocer plans to scrap 5p carrier bags in all stores by the end of 2018, switch 2.4 million plastic straws used in its cafes to paper, and introduce reusable drinks cups in its shops and cafes by the end of 2019. (Source: Company Press Release)

• Asda have also announced plans to invest at least £20.0m to fight food poverty in partnership with charities FareShare and the Trussell Trust. Asda’s support will enable food distribution network FareShare and foodbank operator Trussell Trust to develop their infrastructure and improve services to those in need. (Source: Company Press Release)

• Co-op have announced plans to open 10 stores in Yorkshire including sites in York, Harrogate and Northowram. The regional expansion comes as part of the grocer’s plan to open over 100 stores across the UK in 2018. (Source: Company Press Release)

• Sparkling wines outside of the Champagne category will lead a breakthrough in consumption among Chinese drinkers, according to new research. (Source: Just Drinks)

• Morrisons have announced plans to stop selling 5p plastic bags by the end of 2018, starting from March 2018, in an effort to reduce plastic waste. The grocer has become the final member of the Big 4 to commit to doing away with single-use plastic bags. (Source: The Sun)

• Sainsbury’s have announced to terminate their partnership with the petrol station forecourt operator, Euro Garages, which marked Sainsbury’s first foray into the franchise model. (Source: Telegraph)

• Tesco have announced the appointment of Charles Wilson as their Chief Executive Officer for their UK & Irish arm, replacing Matt Davies in April 2018. (Source: Company Press Release)

• Waitrose have revealed plans to end their “pick your own offers” loyalty scheme by the end of February 2018. The scheme is available to anyone who holds a myWaitrose card and currently allows customers to choose 10 items from a range of hundreds which will be discounted 20.0%. (Source: The Guardian)

• Waitrose have also announced a pilot scheme offering customers evening yoga classes at three of their supermarkets in Basingstoke, Banbury and Newbury for £7. (Source: Retail Gazette)

Household

• Barker & Stonehouse, the UK furniture retailer, have opened a new store at Ladymead, Guildford. The 42,000 sq.ft store spans two floors and stocks furniture of various brands such as Timothy Oulton, Riva 1920, Vi-Spring and Ercol. (Source: Retail Bulletin)

• Debenhams have announced plans to slash 320 jobs as part of their latest cost-cutting effort. The move is expected to hit 25.0% of store management roles across the retailer’s network and a new structure is expected to be rolled out by the end of March 2018. (Source: BBC)

• John Lewis have announced the appointment of Roger Davies as their Group Procurement Director with immediate effect. (Source: Retail Gazette)

Courtesy of Barclays