Greggs expects £15m full-year loss as coronavirus restrictions bite January 6, 2021 Greggs will swing to a full-year loss of up to £15m due to the impact of coronavirus lockdowns on trading, the high street bakery chain announced this morning. The company, which has cut 820 jobs due to the crisis, said the drop in demand means it expects to report a loss before tax for 2020 [...]
UK supermarkets secure best Christmas on record as online sales double January 6, 2021 Online share of UK grocery sales doubled in December, helping to drive supermarkets to their biggest Christmas on record. A total of 8.5m households shopped for their Christmas groceries online this year, up almost 3m compared to last year and equating to roughly a third of all UK households. This pushed total spend at UK [...]
Retailers slash prices in December to tempt shoppers after bruising year January 6, 2021 Retailers slashed prices in December to tempt shoppers to spend in the run-up to Christmas following a challenging year for the beleaguered UK high street. Shop prices fell 1.8 per cent last month – the same rate of decline as in November – driven by discounting among the firms hit hardest by the pandemic, such [...]
Coronavirus lockdown: Government announces £4bn in grants for closed retail and hospitality firms January 5, 2021 Retail, hospitality and leisure businesses are set to receive a one-off grant of up to £9,000 per property to help them survive the latest coronavirus lockdown, the government announced this morning. The new funding comes after the Prime Minister announced last night that the sectors would be forced to remain closed until at least mid-February [...]
Paperchase on the brink of collapse as Covid-19 lockdowns hit sales January 5, 2021 Paperchase is on the brink of becoming the first major retail collapse of 2021 after the stationary chain was forced to close stores over Christmas. The retailer has filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators, with PwC lined up to handle proceedings, following the announcement of a third nationwide lockdown. The card retailer, which [...]
Next confirms consortium bid for Topshop-owner Arcadia January 5, 2021 Next has confirmed that it is part of a consortium bidding for Arcadia brands, but said it was not seeking majority ownership of Sir Philip Green’s collapsed business empire. It was reported last month that the high street retailer was holding detailed discussions with Davidson Kempner about a combined offer for Arcadia, the owner of [...]
UK supermarket sales soar to record-breaking £11.7bn in December January 5, 2021 UK supermarkets recorded their busiest ever month in December as grocery sales soared to £11.7bn amid bar and restaurant closures during the festive period. Morrisons was the strongest performer of the Big Four UK supermarkets, with sales jumping 13.1 per cent, followed by Tesco, which toasted a 11.1 per cent rise in sales. Sainsbury’s recorded [...]
Morrisons posts sales growth but warns of higher Covid-19 costs January 5, 2021 Morrisons has reported a rise in sales during the second half of the year, but warned that tougher new Covid-19 lockdown measures would increase its costs. The supermarket chain posted an 8.1 per cent rise in like-for-like sales excluding fuel in the 22 weeks to the 3 January. Including fuel, like-for-like sales rose 1.9 per [...]
Jamie Oliver takes payday hit as restaurant collapse eats into profits January 3, 2021 Jamie Oliver has suffered a decline in profit from his business ventures as the collapse of his restaurant chain continues to take its toll. Pre-tax profits at the celebrity chef’s group of companies dropped to £7.1m in 2019, down nine per cent on the previous year. Turnover dropped just over five per cent to £38.8m, [...]