The high-end fashion retailer LK Bennett has collapsed, with 500 jobs put at risk. Last week, the chain lined up EY as administrator if it was unable to source new financing. In the year to the end of July 2017, the business faced an operating loss of almost £6 million. LK Bennett has 39 shops, 500 staff and trades out of 37 concessions in stores across the UK. Administrators have said that jobs have already been cut at the chain’s London head office, and five stores have already been closed. As a result, roughly 55 jobs have already been lost. “Amidst tough trading conditions for retailers, the Company has been further impacted by significant rent increases and business rate rises,” joint administrator Dan Hurd said. “Linda and the management team therefore made the difficult decision to place the Company into Administration, to protect the future of the business,” he continued. Over Christmas, the tough trading conditions to hit the UK high street were well publicised. This difficult climate was not just the case of a decreasing footfall, as online trader ASOS (LON:ASC) announced a shock profit warning in the lead up to Christmas, bringing its shares crashing. LK Bennett was founded by Linda Bennett in 1990. The Duchess of Cambridge has been known to be a customer among a variety of celebrities to also shop at the chain. “If you have recently bought anything from LK Bennett, you may not be able to claim a refund or exchange the item if the company ceases trading,” Eleanor Snow, the consumer rights editor at Which?, said. “If you have gift vouchers you should try to spend these in-store as soon as possible,” she continued. In-store trading is expected to continue as normal, but online sales have temporarily come to a halt.

Greggs (LON:GRG) has said that the launch of its vegan sausage roll helped boost an exceptional sales performance. In the seven weeks to 16 February, like-for-like sales surged 9.6%. The launch of its vegan sausage roll and the subsequent publicity surrounding it, helped boost sales as the baked goods company delivered a very strong start to the year. The vegan-friendly sausage roll is made from meat substitute quorn. It was launched at the start of the year as part of the Veganuary campaign. Greggs has said that social media channels played a fundamental role in driving its brand awareness strategy. The recent vegan-friendly sausage roll campaign had a strong online presence and was boosted by engagement on social media. Veganuary is a campaign that encourages consumers to lead a vegan-lifestyle for one month. In this month, consumers are able to observe the health benefits that come with the lifestyle for themselves. Restaurants up and down the country added special vegan-friendly products to their menu for the month as part of the campaign in order to cater for the consumers taking on the challenge. Hundreds of thousands of vegan sausage rolls were sold in the first week of the product’s launch. “Whilst there are significant uncertainties in the months ahead, Greggs has started 2019 in great form, helped in part by the publicity surrounding the launch of our vegan-friendly sausage roll,” Chief Executive Roger Whiteside said. The retailer outlined the growing consumer interest in healthy food choices and the environment which, as a result, is driving the demand for on-the-go snacks that suit different dietary requirements, such as veganism. The company has said that it has a key role to play in encouraging the turn to healthier food options. It is widening its range of products as gluten-free and vegan-friendly snacks hit its shelves. These products sit alongside Greggs’ Balanced Choice range that offers snacks with less than 400 calories and have strong nutritional values. Greggs is not the only food retailer to alter its product portfolio to meet the growing health consciousness of consumers. Last year, the food confectionary business Nestle (SWX:NESN) announced that it was set to make additional cut to sugar, salt and saturated fat quantities in its products, in an attempt to draw in more health-conscious customers. Pepsi also announced that it would purchase the drink-machine maker SodaStream for $3.2 billion to compete against rival Coca-Cola for healthy beverages. Despite the success of its vegan sausage roll, Greggs has warned of the potential disturbance Brexit could have on its business. The company is stockpiling materials with a long shelf life in case a no-deal disrupts imports.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has opted to keep interest rates on hold until 2020 after slashing its forecast for eurozone growth. The central bank revised its 2019 growth downwards to 1.1%, a significant revision from 1.7%. Meanwhile, the bank now expects growth of 1.6% as opposed to 1.7% for 2020. Inflation forecasts were also slashed to 1.2% in 2019, down from from 1.8%, 1.5% in 2020 (down from 1.6%) and 1.6% in 2021, as opposed to the 1.7% initially anticipated. In addition, the ECB announced low rate multiyear loan measures as it looks to encourage growth in the European economy. The stimulus, which has been named Targeted Longer-Term Refinancing Operations, will commence in September and end in March 2021, with a two-year maturity. With regards to future interest rates, the ECB said the following: “The governing council now expects the key ECB interest rates to remain at their present levels at least through the end of 2019, and in any case for as long as necessary to ensure the continued sustained convergence of inflation to levels that are below, but close to, 2% over the medium term. Back in December, the European Central Bank announced the end to its quantitive-easing programme. The bank began the €2.5 trillion stimulus programme back in 2015, following suit from similar actions set in place in the UK and the U.S. ECB President Mario Draghi is set to speak at a press conference today to answer question on the latest monetary policy decision. Watch the conference live below:

Watch ECB press conference live: President Mario Draghi explains today’s monetary policy decisions https://t.co/ZLG9NjYvfk

— European Central Bank (@ecb) March 7, 2019

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Calvin Klein has announced the end of its runway fashion collection, fresh on the heels of the departure creative director Raf Simmons late last year. The American fashion brand has said it will instead focus its efforts on its more profitable underwear and jeans categories. Earlier this month, the company said it would be closing the doors of its 654 Madison Avenue store. According to reports, the decision to end the Calvin Klein Collection entirely will potentially result in the loss of 100 jobs across New York and Milan. In December last year, Chief Creative Officer Raf Simmons left Calvin Klein after two years at the company. During his time at the company, Simmons opted to change the name of the Calvin Klein Collection to Calvin Klein Collection to Calvin Klein 205W39NYC. However, Simmons eventually announced his departure after the CEO of parent company PVH Corp, Emanuel Chirico, said he was “disappointed by the lack of return on our investments in our Calvin Klein 205W39NYC halo business.” Prior to his time at the company, Simmons lead the creative vision at Dior and Jill Sander. In its third quarter results for 2018, the brand said pre-tax earnings fell to $121 million, compared with $142m for the same period a year ago. Meanwhile, revenues increased 2% to $963 million over the course of the year.