Better-than-expected January sales buck retail fears as discounts lure in shoppers February 15, 2019 Retail sales beat expectations in January, as shoppers seized on New-Year deals despite a wider slowdown in spending amid political uncertainty. According to new Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures which buck a recent trend of gloomy retail surveys, month-to-month sales volumes in the sector climbed one per cent during January, trumping consensus estimates of [...]
HMV to reopen Glasgow Braehead store as new owner ramps up negotiations with landlords February 15, 2019 HMV is to repoen its fourth store earmarked for closure, as new owner Doug Putman continues his run of rental renegotiations with high street landlords. The music chain's Glasgow Braehead is set to open up its doors this morning after a week of being closed, Morning Wire has learned. Putman has struck a deal with the outlet's landlord, Intu, after [...]
Segro to make £450m placing as profits soar February 15, 2019 Warehouse landlord Segro said today that it is planning to raise £450m as it looks to ramp up development amid a boom in demand for storage space from online retailers. Britain’s largest listed property firm, which also posted a double-digit profit rise in its full-year results this morning, has proposed a placing of shares to fund [...]
Premier Foods abandons Ambrosia sale, blaming business climate February 15, 2019 Premier Foods has abandoned plans to sell off its Ambrosia brand, it told investors today, blaming the current business climate. Talks began with potential buyers in November, and since the new year Premier Foods had narrowed interest down to a “small group” of possible bidders, but nobody has made an acceptable offer. Read more: Premier [...]
Patisserie Holdings sells Baker & Spice for £2.5m February 15, 2019 Patisserie Holdings has sold its Baker & Spice brand for £2.5m, in a disposal that comes hours after the embattled cake chain offloaded its 117 Patisserie Valerie and Philpotts stores for £13m. In a statement this morning the embattled cake chain said that Baker & Spice, a deli and bakery chain which belonged to Patisserie Holdings [...]
Stock Spirits executives survive boardroom coup by activist investor Western Gate February 14, 2019 Vodka maker Stock Spirits has emerged unscathed after fending off an audacious boardroom coup mounted by activist investor Western Gate. Chairman David Maloney and senior independent director John Nicolson had their heads on the block at the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) this morning after the disgruntled shareholder launched an attack on the firm’s leadership. [...]
45,000 homes could be delivered by developing vacant town centre space February 14, 2019 Tens of thousands of new homes could be built by developing space left empty in Britain’s struggling town centres, according to new research that comes amid calls to solve Britain’s high street and housing woes. Vacant retail spaces in town hotspots across the UK could be replaced by a minimum of 45,000 residential properties, data [...]
Luke Johnson will see his reputation recover from Patisserie Valerie’s fraud scandal February 14, 2019 Warren Buffett once said that “bad things aren’t obvious when times are good”. It is a statement that rings painfully true in the case of Luke Johnson, who was riding high last year with a £250m fortune, when the bad things – an alleged long-term fraud of Patisserie Valerie accounts – were apparently far from obvious. [...]
Meet the banker-turned-restaurateur bringing the City’s dining scene to life February 14, 2019 Whatever happened to the liquid lunch? It is a question often asked with nostalgia throughout the Square Mile. Traders in pubs, City executives in boardrooms, journalists and lawyers in wine bars; the sight and smell of booze at noon was at one point in time as much a part of the City’s identity as pin-stripes [...]
Patisserie Valerie wins rescue backing from private equity firm February 14, 2019 Scandal-hit Patisserie Valerie has been rescued in a £13m management buyout backed by Irish private equity firm Causeway Capital Partners. The cake chain confirmed this morning that Causeway Capital Partners had struck a deal with Patisserie Valerie's administrators in a move that is set to save 2,000 jobs and 96 of the firm's remaining branches. Retail and [...]