The John Lewis Partnership, which is seen as a barometer of British retailing, today announced that sales grew 30% in the week to 3 April, compared with the same period a year ago. The renowned employee-owned department store said poor weather and the Easter holiday encouraged consumers to spend and provides evidence that the economic [...]
John Lewis Partnership, the renowned employee-owned department store, has revealed its staff will share a bonus pot of £151 million. The announcement came after the 146-year-old group said annual pre-tax profits grew 9.7% to £306.6 million. According to John Lewis chairman, Charlie Mayfield, the company’s 70,000 staff – or partners, as John Lewis refers to [...]
The John Lewis Partnership, which is seen as a barometer of British retailing, today announced sales grew 14.8% to £50.4 million in the week to 27 February compared with the same period a year ago. The figures at the renowned employee-owned department store suggest consumer spending recovered in February since it was the seventh consecutive [...]
The John Lewis Partnership, which is seen as a barometer of British retailing, today announced that takings dived by almost 30% in the week to 9 January compared with the same week a year ago as a result of the severe weather that has hit the UK. The results have revealed the impact that the [...]
Peacocks, which operates more than 500 fashion stores across the UK, posted a 17% rise in like-for-like sales on last year’s levels in December and early January. Richard Kirk, chief executive, said it had experienced a “cracking Christmas as customers decided they were going to celebrate after a year of doom and gloom”. Meanwhile, the [...]
British retailing giant, Marks and Spencer (M&S), has today reported its first sales growth in over two years. The 125-year-old retailer which sells clothes, food and homewares, said like-for-like sales grew 0.8% in the three months to 26 December compared with the same period a year earlier. However, the increase was below market expectations of [...]
Fashion chain Next has today reported better than expected sales figures for the Christmas period. The fashion retailer Next said like-for-like sales at Next Retail were up 3.2% in the 22 weeks to Christmas Eve. Its mail order business, Next Directory, said sales increased by 6.8% compared with a year earlier. As a result, it [...]
The John Lewis Partnership, which is seen as a barometer of British retailing, said like-for-like sales were up 12.7% in the five weeks to 2 January 2010 compared with a year ago. The figures will boost hopes that the economy is making a recovery as consumers begin to spend again. Furthermore, the renowned employee-owned department [...]
Capital Shopping Centres (CSC), which has stakes in 14 regional shopping centres including the Manchester Arndale, Lakeside in Essex and the Gateshead MetroCentre, said despite the snowfall over the weekend, retailers experienced their busiest weekend of the year. Figures show that shoppers braved the weather after figures revealed that over seven million people have visited [...]
A survey by the British Retail Consortium (BRC)/KPMG has today revealed a rise in November retail sales of an annual rate of 1.8%. However, it was much less than the 3.8% annual growth seen the previous month as the figures were dragged down by falling food price inflation. Furthermore, the milder weather meant sales of [...]
The John Lewis Partnership, which is seen as a barometer of British retailing, has experienced its biggest ever weekly sales figures despite the recession. In the week to December 5, the chain reported sales of £102.4 million – up 13.8% on the same week a year earlier and nearly £1 million more than the previous [...]
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has today reported a rise in retail sales with volumes rising at their fastest annual rate for almost two years in October. The CBI’s distributive trades survey said the sales balance rose to +8 in October from +3 the previous month. Not only was it the highest level since [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today reported that retail sales were flat in August compared with July. In July, retail sales grew by a revised 0.2% and this followed a 1.3% rise reported in June. Analysts had been expecting a third straight month of growth to boost recovery hopes – as has been [...]
John Lewis Partnership, owner of the Waitrose supermarket chain as well as the renowned employee-owned department store, has today posted a 19.6% fall in profits for the six-month period to August 1. The group, which is seen as a barometer of British retailing, said pre-tax profits were £86.3 million, down from £107.3 million the same [...]
John Lewis has announced that weekly sales grew by 9 percent, as a combination of Mothers Day and the forthcoming Easter holiday have rallied the group’s sales. John Lewis said that its fashion marketing campaign featuring model Karen Elson, coupled with good weather, has made this week the strongest week for fashion sales, which are [...]
Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) today revealed a rise in UK retail sales for the month of January as retailers made big price cuts to entice shoppers into the stores. The ONS said retail sales volumes rose 0.7% in January compared with December, and a rise of 3.6% compared with January [...]
In yesterday’s Pre-Budget Report, Chancellor Alistair Darling, announced that VAT is to be cut from 17.5% to 15% from next Monday, December 1, for 13 months While the cut has been welcomed by many, Stephen Robertson, director general of the British Retail Consortium (BRC), said implementing a new VAT rate in just one week will [...]
Phone fraudsters stealing bank card pins
Fraudsters using a phone scam to trick bank card holders into revealing their pin numbers stole £750,000 in the first four months of this year. This is the same amount stolen through this scam in the whole of last year. The fraudster telephones a bank customer, often someone elderly or vulnerable, telling them that their [...]
FSA rules out ban on interest-only mortgages
Speculation that the Financial Services Authority would ban interest-only mortgages as part of its Mortgage Market Review has proved to be unfounded. However, lenders will be required to monitor the performance of the investment product taken out by the customer to repay the mortgage at the end of its term. Investments are performing poorly because [...]
Bank of England may end free in-credit banking
A director of the Bank of England has warned that official intervention could be considered to end the ‘dangerous myth of free in-credit banking’. Andrew Bailey has already spoken out against free banking in relation to the mis-selling of financial products. In a speech made available to media, he reiterated his concern, saying that it [...]
Bank of England votes against more economic stimulus
The Bank of England voted against a further round of quantitative easing, at its latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. Just one member, David Miles, voted for further asset purchase to encourage growth in the UK economy, while the other eight members voted to keep the Bank’s quantitative easing programme steady at £325bn. The minutes [...]
Catalogue debt growing says helpline
Calls from people concerned about their debts with mail order catalogues accounted for more than 12 per cent of all calls received by National Debtline last year, compared with just 8 per cent in 2007. More people were concerned about catalogue debt than about payday loans, mortgage or rent, according to the Money Advice Trust [...]
Homeserve faces mis-selling investigation
HomeServe, which provides emergency insurance cover and domestic repairs to households in the UK, is to be investigated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Issues over the possible mis-selling of household emergency policies were uncovered last October during an internal review at the Walsall-based company. Homeserve’s call centre staff were found to be selling ‘Complete [...]
OFT warns Wonga over debt collection methods
Payday loan company Wonga used aggressive and misleading methods to collect debts from customers, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has found. Wonga sent letter and emails to certain customers suggesting they had committed fraud and threatening to report them to the police if they did not act in the way Wonga suggested. The company [...]
NS&I re-launches investment account
National Savings & Investments (NS&I) has re-launched its Investment Account at a higher interest rate than it previously offered. The account now offers 0.75 per cent before tax, compared with between 0.2 and 0.3 per cent previously, depending on the account balance. Deposits and withdrawals on the account can no longer be made at Post [...]
Rightmove reports property downsizing trend
Two in five property owners planning to sell in the next year are planning to ‘trade down’, compared with one in four who plan to ‘trade up’. A survey by property website Rightmove found that moving to a smaller home is the main reason for moving in nine out of the ten regions in the [...]
More people failing to save for retirement
The proportion of people with no pension savings has grown from 20 per cent to 22 per cent over the past year, according to Scottish Widows’ latest survey. The pension provider surveyed 5,200 adults in the UK, aged 30 or over, and earning at least £10,000 a year, for its annual review of pensions. Ian [...]
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