Greene King reports positive outlook following strong Christmas
Greene King has announced on Tuesday that it remains confident in its 2019 outlook. Indeed, the company continues to trade ahead of market expectations following the Christmas festivities.
For the 36 weeks to 06 January, like-for-like sales were up 3.2% following strong trading over the Christmas period. Like-for-like sales in the last two weeks alone, covering Christmas and the New Year, were up 10.9%.
Joules announces strong Christmas trading performance
Premium British lifestyle brand, Joules, has announced a strong trading performance of its retail business over the Christmas period. The fashion retailer expects to maintain its profit outlook following the festivities.
Retail sales increased by 11.7% compared to the prior year. According to Joules, this performance “reflected growth across all of the brand’s product categories.”
Online and E-commerce represent almost half of total retail sales over Christmas – the seven-week period to 6 January 2019. This strong online performance was enhanced by a good performance through the company’s digital channels.
Joules is confident that it will achieve full year 2018 PBT in line with expectations.
Chief Executive Officer, Colin Porter, commented on the results: “I am pleased to update on a continued strong retail performance for Joules through the important festive trading period, which represents an improvement from the retail sales growth in the first half of the year2. This good growth was achieved despite the ongoing backdrop of challenging sector trading conditions. “The Group’s performance was again underpinned by the strength of the Joules brand, our growing and loyal customer base, and the flexibility of our ‘total retail’ model which continues to enable Joules to adapt to changing customer shopping behaviours.” Several retailers have begun to announce their financial results over the Christmas period. Not all have posted strong results like Joules. Footwear retailer, Footasylum, warned that its adjusted earnings will lean towards the lower end of analyst expectations. However, on Monday, both Selfridges and budget supermarket Aldi revealed record breaking results over the festive shopping period. Elsewhere in the supermarket sector, Morrisons reported a steady sales growth over Christmas. The mixed results are an indicator of the current economic uncertainty. What remains apparent is that not all retailers have struggled over the Christmas period. So far, Selfridges, Aldi and Joules are just a few examples of strong performance over Christmas, contrasting the results of Footasylum. For a better understanding of the retail sector over Christmas, however, we must wait and see what additional results are revealed, allowing us to see the bigger picture. At 09:33 GMT today, shares in Joules Ltd (LON:JOUL) were trading at +5.11%.Footasylum shares slide 13% after warning on Christmas earnings
Footasylum has warned on Tuesday that it expects its adjusted earnings to lean towards the “lower end of the current range of analyst forecasts”. Shares in the company have slid by over 13% this morning following the announcement.
The footwear retailer has said that it expects to reveal an adjusted EBITDA for 2019 that lean towards the lower end of expectations. Revenue growth is expected to meet current expectations.
Footasylum has pointed towards the difficult UK retail climate as a cause of this weaker outlook.
“The challenging trading conditions reported in the first half have continued throughout the Christmas trading period. UK economic uncertainty and weakening consumer sentiment have led to some of the most difficult trading conditions seen in recent years,” the company said. Footasylum is not the only fashion retailer to struggle over Christmas. Online retailer, Asos, revealed an unexpected profit warning over the festive shopping season. Total revenue was up 14% to £102.3 million, and has increased by 16% year-to-date to £200.8 million. Online sales continue to deliver a strong performance, up 28% to £36.0 million. On a year-to-date basis, this now accounts for 33% of total revenue. Additionally, wholesale revenue doubled from £1.3 million to £2.6 million. Store revenue increased 5% to £63.7 million. This positive increase is despite the challenging UK retail climate previously highlighted. Five new stores opened and three were upsized ahead of the Christmas period. Executive Chairman of Footasylum, Barry Brown, commented on the announcement: “In the context of the current tough conditions on the high street, we are encouraged to have delivered revenue growth across all of our channels and major product categories, with online and wholesale continuing to perform particularly well. We have also been pleased by the performance of the five new store openings and three upsizes that we completed in time for Christmas.” “However, the short-term outlook is undeniably challenging, and we continue to maintain our focus on cash, working capital and inventory management, as well as reducing costs across our operations. The current trading conditions have led to significant discounting and promotional activity across the sector, and this in turn has impacted our gross margin expectations for FY19.” Financial results from the festive period are beginning to be announced this week. Morrisons reported a steady sales growth on Tuesday, whilst both Selfridges and Aldi announced record breaking results on Monday. At 09:07 GMT today, shares in Footasylum plc (LON:FOOT) were trading at -13.23%.Morrisons reports 4% Christmas sales growth
Morrisons has announced on Tuesday that its total Christmas sales (excluding fuel) were up 4%. Indeed, for the Christmas period – the nine weeks to 6 January – the group saw a positive growth in sales. Despite this, shares in the company have dropped slightly during early trading.
Additionally, group like-for-like sales (excluding fuel) were also positive, up 3.6%. This figure is comprised of 0.6% retail and 3.0% wholesales.
Morrisons highlighted the “change in consumer behaviour” over the most recent Christmas period.
In the retail sector, Asos’s profit warning (released in the lead up to Christmas) was highly unexpected given that Christmas is one of the busiest retail periods. Despite this, the company has delivered a strong performance. Aldi also reported its sales over the Christmas period. The discount supermarket revealed a record breaking week of sales during the week before Christmas. Moreover, Selfridges also revealed a record set of sales for the festive period, growing 8% year-on-year. “Morrisons performed well, sustaining a strong offer and trading the business hard for customers. We were again more competitive, with the price of our basket of key Christmas items the same as last year,” the company commented. Over the period, customer satisfaction also saw a significant increase. The strongest areas of improvement, according to Morrisons, are colleague friendliness and checkout experience. Chief Executive, David Potts, has commented on the announcement: “This is Morrisons fourth consecutive Christmas of like for like sales growth during the turnaround. Our performance shows colleagues are listening hard and responding to customers, providing consistently great value and good quality when it matters most. I would once again like to thank the whole Morrisons team for what they continue to do for our customers. “Morrisons is well set to keep improving the shopping trip and become more and more relevant for more customers”. The company’s 2018/19 expectations remain unchanged. At 08:39 GMT today, shares in WM Morrison Supermarkets plc (LON:MRW) were trading at -2.23%.Cannabis and FinTech firms the most likely to be funded in 2019, says Crowdcube
Cannabis and Finch firms are among the businesses most likely to be funded in 2019, Crowdcube has revealed in a company statement.
The crowdfunding platform flagged AI, Fintech and cannabis companies as the businesses likely to receive investment in the New Year.
Crowdcube also aannounced that it proved a particularly successful year for the platform, with various record breaking raises taking place.
It added that its 2018 revenue was up 50% to £6 million, an improvement from the £4 million posted in 2017.
The company said q4 proved its most successful quarter ever, with revenue of £1.8 million, up from £1.2 million reported during the same period in 2017. The number of successful raises on the platform increased from 45 to 49, rising 9%. Of these successful raises, the average amount increased £732,000 to £1,430,000, marking a rise of 95%.Overall, investment pledged to companies listed on the platform was for the year was up 72% to £224 million, up from £130 million recorded a year previously.
Successful raises on the platform came in at 198, 35% more than last year’s total of 147.
Some of Crowdcube’s biggest success stories of the year included BrewDog, securing a record £10 million in funding, after initially raising £5 million in just 3 days. Similarly, last year challenger bank Monzo raised £20 million in the largest-ever crowdfunding round for a fin-tech firm. Luke Lang, co-founder of Crowdcube, commented: “It’s been an incredible year for Crowdcube, as entrepreneurs at ever-larger companies chose Crowdcube to connect with crowd investors who want to back young companies they believe in. Entrepreneurs increasingly understand that a Crowdcube round not only raises funds, but builds their brand and communities, which are crucial to the success of new businesses in these digitally-connected times.” Read about why cannabis could be the next hot investment sector here.Selfridges set to report record Christmas sales
Selfridges is set to report a record set of sales for the Christmas period, as the retailer bucks the downward trend in UK retail as of late.
The luxury department store updated the market on Monday, reporting sales for the 24 days running up to Christmas had grown 8% year-on-year.
Sales in the week to the 25th of December were also up 8%.
In particular, sales at its flagship Oxford Street store in London, saw a 10% rise in sales across the festive period.
The best-performing departments included women’s designer accessories, women’s designer wear, kidswear and luggage.
Moreover, its menswear departments also enjoyed high sales growth across the December month.
Alongside its famed central London location, Selfridges also has branches in Birmingham and Manchester.
The luxury department store was founded 111 years ago in 1908 by Harry Gordon Selfridge, an American-British entrepreneur who was later referred to as ‘The Earl of Oxford Street’.
The store was also the subject of ITV drama “Mr Selfridge”, which recounted the early days of its founding.
Selfridges results prove resilient in the face of an increasingly challenging trading environment for retailers.
Whilst the festive period is usually particularly lucrative for the high-street, 2018 marked on of the most difficult years on record, with House of Fraser narrowly avoiding administration.
However, troubles have proved not only limited to retailers of the traditional store-front model.
Online retailers are also facing difficulties, with ASOS (LON:ASC) issuing a shock profit warning in the run up to Christmas, after heavy discounting had impacted revenues.
Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley also lamented that this November had been “the worst on record, unbelievably bad”.
UK financial services relocate £800bn in assets to Europe, says EY
UK financial services companies have relocated almost £800 billion in assets to Europe since the Brexit referendum, a report by EY has found.
The study examined 222 of the biggest financial services firms with respect to their Brexit contingency plans.
However, the study determined the £800 billion figure solely from public announcements of asset transfers.
Consequently, EY warned that more relocations may have yet to be announced, thus the figure could prove significantly higher.
“As things stand, and per regulatory expectations, financial services firms have no choice but to continue preparing on the basis of a ‘no deal’ scenario,” commented Omar Ali, UK financial services leader at EY.
In November, 36% of tracked companies confirmed intentions to shift some operations to Europe, as a result of Brexit negotiations.
This figure includes 55% of universal banks, investment banks and broker firms, as well as 44% of wealth and asset managers, and 42% of insurance companies.
Mr Ali also noted that the financial services sector has planned ahead with regards to Brexit.
He said: “The City is further ahead in implementing its Brexit contingency plans than many other sectors . . . The closer we get to March 29 without a deal, the more assets will be transferred and headcount hired locally or relocated.”
Nevertheless, other industries and businesses across the UK remain concerned regarding continued uncertainty relating to Brexit negotiations.
EY’s findings come ahead of the scheduled parliamentary vote on Theresa May’s Brexit deal in January.
With a lack of consensus among MPs regarding how best to proceed, fears of the UK crashing out of the EU with ‘no-deal’ are mounting.
Despite these concerns, former foreign secretary Boris Johnson took to his column in the Daily Telegraph to proclaim that in fact a ‘no deal’ option proves closet to what the people voted for.
Johnson noted that a no deal withdrawal was “gaining in popularity” among the public, dismissing warnings as “downright apocalyptic”.
Aldi reveals record sales in run-up to Chrismas
Aldi reported a record week of sales during the week before Christmas.
The discount supermarket said that sales were up by 10% compared to the same period the year previous.
Sales were boosted by “Specially Selected” and “Exquisite” lines offered by the supermarket.
Aldi, which has 800 stores in the UK, has a supermarket share of 7.6% and hopes to have 1,200 stores opened by the end of 2025.
“Our Christmas range was the largest and most innovative yet and caught the imagination of our customers, who visited our stores in record numbers,” said Giles Hurley, the supermarket’s Aldi UK chief executive.
“Although we saw strong growth across all key categories, the standout performance was in our Specially Selected brand where shoppers treated themselves to premium products for a fraction of the price they would have paid elsewhere for similar quality products.”
“A key factor behind our record performance was the collective commitment, energy and enthusiasm of all our colleagues, and I want to thank them for all their hard work at this exceptionally busy time.”
The rest of this week will have trading updates from Tesco (LON: TSCO), Sainsbury’s (LON: SBRY), Morrisons, Marks & Spencer (LON: MKS) and Waitrose.
High competition from Aldi and Lidl has forced supermarkets including Morrisons (LON: MRW) to cut prices. Morrisons said on Monday it will cut the price of more than 900 products.
“We’re listening to customers who are telling us that their budgets will be stretched in January, so we are cutting every penny we can on the essentials that will help them feed their families,” said Andy Atkinson, its marketing director.
Average UK household debt hits record of £15,400
Average UK household debt has reached a record amount of £15,400 according to a new report, as austerity and slow wage growth weigh upon families.
The data, compiled by the trade union body (TUC), revealed that household debt owed to banks and credit card firms had risen sharply in 2018.
According to the TUC, the total owed by households across the UK jumped to a combined £428 billion in the third quarter of the year. Overall, each household owed £886 more than it did 12 months prior.
Whilst student loans are factored in, the TUC said the debt figures are not inclusive of any outstanding mortgage debts.
The TUC general secretary, Frances O’Grady, said: “Household debt is at crisis level. Years of austerity and wage stagnation has pushed millions of families deep into the red. The government is skating on thin ice by relying on household debt to drive growth. A strong economy needs people spending wages, not credit cards and loans.”
Alongside amassing greater household debts, recent figures have also revealed stagnating house price growth in recent months, as Brexit uncertainties continue to bite.
Last week, it was revealed that house prices dropped by 0.7% since November, marking the biggest decline since July 2012, according to the latest data from Nationwide.
The average house price in Britain last month came in at £212, 281. This compares to £211,156 recorded in December 2017.
The 0.5% annual rate of growth is the slowest since February 2013.
Jadestone Energy’s Montara asset is ready to resume production
Jadestone Energy (LON:JSE) has announced the completion of works required to resume production from the Montara oil field. This restart follows an extensive maintenance and inspection shut down. Shares in the company have increased by a slight 3.24% following the announcement of completion.
The decision to halt production at the Montara oil field was made in November. Jadestone Energy closed the asset in order to correct an extensive backlog of inspection and maintenance routines.