Including plans to sell or float Shop Direct being halted by the Barclay brothers.
The Source rounds up some of the key retail stories of the week.
The Barclay brothers have dropped their plans to sell or float Shop Direct, Retail Week has reported. The retailer said there was declining investor appetite due to ‘uncertainty created in the post election UK environment’. It also said that ‘retaining the business was always an explicit option given its significant growth potential’. The Barclay brothers had been seeking £3 billion for the group. Shop Direct delivered double digit profit growth for the year ending June 30.
Mothercare has seen its UK like for like sales rise 1.9% in its first quarter. However, total UK sales were lower in the 15 weeks to July 8, year on year, reflecting its ongoing store closure programme. Internationally, overseas retail sales dipped 8.3% in constant currency.
Sports Direct has reported its worst full year profit figures in six years, dropping almost 60%. Underlying pre-tax profit dropped 58.7% to £113.7 million in the year to April 30. Group EBITDA fell 28.5% to £272.7 million. However, group sales increased 11.7% and UK sports retail sales grew 6.2%. UK like for likes were flat.
John Lewis enjoyed a sales lift of 4% to £86.4 million in the week to July 15. Sales grew across all departments, mainly thanks to the last week of the summer clearance event. Electricals and home technology jumped 9.9% year on year, home sales grew 1.9% and fashion sales increased 1%.
Payments processor Worldpay has said that spending on foreign cards increased 18% in June, with British high streets raking in £643 million from tourists. Luxury boutiques and department stores saw sales surge 63% during Eid from June 24. Worldpay is now predicting that foreign card spending could reach £2.4 billion as tourists flock to the UK, taking advantage of the drop in the value of the pound. Outside of the Middle East, tourists from Russia and the US were the biggest spenders last month, up 25% and 19% respectively compared to last year.
Amazon has launched a shoppable feed of photos and stories in its mobile app, called Amazon Spark. The retailer is positioning the move as a social network where shoppers can buy products displayed with a tap on their phone – it combines the ecommerce style capabilities of Pinterest with the interface of Instagram. Amazon Spark is currently only available for Prime customers in the US.
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