Company Results

• Inchcape have reported a 9.4% increase in revenue to £8.9bn for the year ending 31 December 2017. Reported profit before tax increased by 33.0% to £369.9m for the same period.

• Greggs have reported a 7.4% increase in revenue to £960.0m for the 52 weeks to 30 December 2017. Pre-tax profit stood at £71.9m for the same period.

• Travis Perkins have reported a 3.5% increase in revenue to £6.4bn for the year ending 31 December 2017. Like-for-like growth stood at 3.3%, while profit before tax stood at £290.0m for the same period.

Clothing, Footwear & Accessories

• ASOS have launched a new activewear line, Asos 4505, for both men and women. The launch of the Asos 4505 collection follows the retailer’s “More Reasons To Move” campaign earlier in 2018, which featured a diverse cast of models with freestyle footballer Lisa Zimouche, DJ Jessica Skye and body positivity and disability advocate Mama Cax among them. (Source: Global Data)

• Burberry have announced that their Chief Marketing Officer, Sarah Manley, is set to resign in July 2018. Sarah initially started as vice-president of global public relations for the fashion house and has held several roles over the past 17 years including senior vice president of marketing and Communication. (Source: The Drum)

• Harriet Kelsall, the jewellery retailer, have opened their first Store in London at Regent Street. The store offers customers the chance to meet with qualified designers to create bespoke pieces of jewellery. (Source: Retail Bulletin)

• JD Sports have introduced customer feedback technology to all their stores to allow shoppers to rate the experience at the checkout. The system, provided by tech provider TruRating, asks each customer a single question as they pay and invites them to provide a rating from 0-9. (Source: Retail Week)

• Jack Wills have announced that their Chief Product Officer, Emma Alexander, has stepped down from the business with immediate effect. Emma first joined the British fashion chain in 2014 and her role comprised of overseeing merchandising, sourcing and production. (Source: Drapers)

• Pavers have announced the acquisition of Jones Bootmaker, the UK based footwear retailer. Pavers has taken control of 42 of the footwear retailer’s surviving 47 stores, as well as Jones Bootmaker’s website and branding. (Source: Retail Gazette)

• Missguided have launched a new range of store mannequins which include “natural stretch marks” and mixed ethnicities. As part of its #makeyourmark campaign, the mannequins will be featured in both of its stores in Westfield Stratford City and Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent. (Source: Independent)

• New Look have announced to close down as much as 60 of their 600 UK stores as they continue to battle massive debts. The closure of stores is a part of New Look’s expected ‘company voluntary arrangement’ (CVA). (Source: Retail Gazette)

• Next Group have announced the appointment of Richard Papp as their new Group Merchandise and Operations Director, replacing current Group Operations Director, Michael Law, who will retire in July 2018 after working for 23 years with the retailer. (Source: Company Press Release)

• Budweiser replaces Carlsberg as England football team’s beer partner Anheuser-Busch InBev has secured ‘official beer’ status for Budweiser with both the England national football team (Source: Just Drinks)

Electrical & Entertainment

• Maplin have announced that they have officially fallen into administration. The retailer has called in administrators Zelf Hussain, Toby Underwood and Ian Green from PwC to handle the process. (Source: BBC)

• Toys R Us UK have announced that they have officially fallen into administration, putting 3,000 UK jobs at risk. All 105 Toys R Us stores will remain open until further notice. (Source: The Guardian)

Food & Drink

• Tesco have announced that they earmarked two potential sites in Immingham, Lincolnshire and Chatteris, Cambridgeshire to trial their new discount store concept. The sites are part of Tesco’s plan to launch a separate brand aimed at taking on Aldi and Lidl. (Source: Retail Gazette)

• Waitrose have become the first UK supermarket to introduce a gin, Roku, made in Japan. Roku, a craft gin from Japanese distillery, The House of Suntory, has been launched in Waitrose shops across the UK. (Source: Retail Bulletin)

Household

• Oak Furniture Land have announced the appointment of Alex Fisher as their new Chief Operating Officer with immediate effect. With the furniture chain now opening a new store at a rate of one per month on average as well as a new digital presence in the US market, Alex Fisher will be tasked with driving Oak Furniture Land’s growth in the next 12 months. (Source: Retail Bulletin)

Courtesy of ‘Barclays‘