Retail news

• The Perfume Shop Valentine’s sales heat up as gift sets surge

  19-02-2024 19:39 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  The Perfume Shop saw Valentine’s Day sales soar this year, as its classic fragrances and gift sets dominated the market.
  Sales volume shot up 18% compared to the same time last year, with the retailer selling 200,000 bottles during its Valentine’s Day campaign.
  The perfume retailer’s performance was driven by a 67% rise in sales of its classic fragrances, as well as a staggering 110% hike in gift sets compared to last year.
  Promotional deals also proved popular, with the websit
  
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• Moody’s remains ‘positive’ on Iceland despite flat 2023 profits

  19-02-2024 17:48 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  Ratings firm Moody’s has remained “positive” over Iceland Foods’ outlook, despite delivering weaker than anticipated results.
  The firm’s comments comes following an update to Iceland’s bond holders and is the most up-to-date look at the frozen food retailer’s performance.
  It was revealed that in the 12 months to 29 December 2023, EBITDA totalled £289m, which had remained broadly flat against £284m that Moody’s forecasted in September, T
  
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• Currys board should play hardball with opportunistic bidders | Nils Pratley

  19-02-2024 17:40
  
  Electricals retailer is worth more than US hedge fund Elliott’s offer and should look for close to £1bnCurrys shares soar as Chinese retailer enters takeover battleIt’s a long time since anybody described Currys, or Dixons as it was in a former incarnation, as a jewel of the London stock market. The electricals retailer was relegated from the FTSE 100 index as long ago as 2017, soon after its foolish value-destroying merger with Carphone Warehouse. These days it exists in that
  
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• Battered Currys is an odd candidate for a bidding war

  19-02-2024 16:57
  The UK electrical retailer’s board is right to push back against bidders taking advantage of depressed earnings
  
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• Pret slashes prices of top sellers following profiteering accusations

  19-02-2024 16:32 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  Pret a Manger has reduced the price of its six best-selling sandwiches, with some seeing reductions of up to £1.
  The cuts follow the food-to-go chain being accused of profiteering amid the cost-of-living crisis on the back of price rises over the past two years, including on its subscription service, which was raised from £25 per month to £30 last year.
  Pret’s chief executive Pano Christou had blamed price rises on inflation, which has seen it bear cost increases in labou
  
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• Best Retail Customer Engagement Platforms, Tools and Software

  19-02-2024 16:06 via theretailbulletin.com
  
  Enter the dynamic world of modern retail, where customer engagement platforms reign supreme as the ultimate catalysts for capturing consumer attention. In a crowded arena where... View Article
  
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• Children as young as ten fuelling rise in attacks on high street staff and security

  19-02-2024 16:05 via theretailbulletin.com
  
  Thousands of incidents of anti-social behaviour, customer complaints and shoplifting reported already in 2024, says leading security company Kingdom Security, who have a specialist retail division, working... View Article
  
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• Aldi lowers prices across fruit and veg range

  19-02-2024 15:48 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  Aldi has cut prices across its fruit and vegetable range to make “healthy and varied diets affordable for all”.
  The discounter has lowered the price of selected fresh produce including apples, berries, carrots, chestnut mushrooms, grapes, tomatoes, onions, shallots, oranges and ready-to-eat salads.
  It marks the biggest round of cuts that Aldi has launched this year so far, representing around a quarter of the discounter’s produce range. More than 50 products will drop in price
  
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• China’s new year splurge could give luxury a fresh start

  19-02-2024 12:11
  Strong spending data has boosted Chinese stocks as trading resumes after week-long break
  
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• Currys shares soar as Chinese online retailer enters takeover battle

  19-02-2024 11:24
  
  JD.com weighing up an offer after UK electricals retailer rejects £700m bid from US private equity group ElliottCurrys rejects takeover bid from ElliottA Chinese e-commerce company has said it is considering making an offer for Currys, sending the electronics retailer’s shares soaring amid hopes of a bidding war with private equity investor Elliott.The share price of Currys surged by a third on Monday morning after JD.com revealed it was “in the very preliminary stages” o
  
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• Chinese ecommerce group JD.com considers offer for Currys

  19-02-2024 10:48
  Interest comes days after UK electronics retailer rejected unsolicited bid from Elliott Management
  
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• Lidl seeks investor to build 12 new stores

  19-02-2024 10:45 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  Lidl is looking for investors to plough £91.1m into building a dozen new supermarkets across the country as it looks to expand its store network.
  The discounter has begun to look for investors to build the new shops, which it will then rent from them, stating in a funding pitch it is offering “a unique opportunity to acquire the freehold and fund the construction of 12 supermarkets let to Lidl GB”, The Grocer reported.
  Locations currently mentioned in the documents include Alex
  
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• Chinese ecommerce group JD.com considering offer for Currys

  19-02-2024 09:36
  Interest comes days after UK electronics retailer rejected unsolicited bid from Elliott Management
  
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• Lush settles legal dispute with ex-boss over share sale

  19-02-2024 09:21 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  Lush has settled a legal dispute with its former chief executive Andrew Gerrie over a blocked transfer of shares.
  The bath bomb specialist found itself in a row last year with Gerrie’s investment firm Silverwood Brands after the business sought to acquire a 19.8% stake – worth £216.8m – in Lush from the former boss and his wife, Alison Hawksley.
  The retailer blocked the transfer of shares to Silverwood as it said they did not match those previously offered to the remainin
  
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• JD.com considering offer for Currys

  19-02-2024 09:16
  Chinese ecommerce group joins Elliott in race for UK electronics retailer
  
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• Currys: JD.com considers takeover bid as Waterstones owner Elliott reviews offer

  19-02-2024 09:01 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  Currys could soon find itself the centre of a bidding war as Chinese online shopping giant JD.com considers making a takeover offer and Waterstones owner Elliott reviews its bid.
  The Chinese ecommerce giant said on Monday that “it is in the very preliminary stages of evaluating a possible transaction that may include a cash offer for the entire issued share capital of Currys”.
  It follows reports in The Telegraph, which said the two retailers have held exploratory discussions in recen
  
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• Currys: JD.com considers takeover bid as Waterstones owner Elliot reviews offer

  19-02-2024 09:01 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  Currys could soon find itself the centre of a bidding war as Waterstones owner Elliot considers a fresh bid for the tech giant and Chinese online shopping giant JD.com looks to make an offer.
  The bookshop owner is understood to be considering making a new cash bid for the electricals retailer after its initial £700m offer was rejected on Friday.
  Currys said the bid “significantly undervalued the company and its future prospects” and its board unanimously rejected the approach.
  
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• The Body Shop suppliers stuck with ‘more than $1m’ of ingredients

  19-02-2024 08:28 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  The Body Shop’s fair trade suppliers, who work with vulnerable people from the Amazon and Africa, say they have been left with more than £792,000 ($1m) worth of beauty ingredients that may never be ordered or paid for.
  The ethical beauty retailer, which filed for administration of its UK and German arm last week, has ties with 18 community fair trade partnerships around the world via its own scheme.
  Several suppliers told The Guardian that they could be stuck with hundreds of thousan
  
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• PiRA24 Judge Interview: Tea Colaianni of WiHTL & Diversity in Retail

  19-02-2024 08:21 via theretailbulletin.com
  
  Meet Tea Colaianni, a seasoned leader with over 25 years of experience in consumer-facing industries, including pivotal roles at Hilton Hotels and Merlin Entertainments. As the... View Article
  
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• Comment: Calculating the cost of complexity

  19-02-2024 08:15 via theretailbulletin.com
  
  When Jim McCarthy was CEO of Poundland around 2010 he took me on a visit to a number of the company’s stores in its Midlands heartland... View Article
  
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• Truly Beauty poised for global expansion following key appointments

  19-02-2024 07:52 via theretailbulletin.com
  
  Prestige beauty brand Truly Beauty is getting set for global expansion with the appointments of Kamilla Khanbalinova as chief sales officer and Nick Bracken as chief... View Article
  
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• Currys rejects takeover approach from US investment firm

  19-02-2024 07:45 via theretailbulletin.com
  
  Currys has rejected an unsolicited takeover approach by the Elliott Advisors US investment firm. The electricals retailer said the offer valued its business at around £700... View Article
  
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• H&M to open new Miami store

  19-02-2024 07:30 via theretailbulletin.com
  
  H&M is continuing to expand across the US with the upcoming launch of a new store at Miami’s Brickell City Centre. The fashion retailer will occupy... View Article
  
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• Morrisons launches Aldi and Lidl price match campaign

  19-02-2024 01:01 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  Morrisons has followed Asda in launching a price match campaign on hundreds of weekly essentials against those in Lidl and Aldi.
  The supermarket is matching the cost of over 200 products including corn flakes, canned tomatoes, baby wipes, rice and bread as well as household cleaning products such as anti-bac spray, bleach and toilet rolls with those at the discounters.
  Morrisons said it was also continuing its commitment to British Farming with 100% British beef mince, chicken fillets, semi-skim
  
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