Mothercare sales continue to tumble
Mothercare (LON:MTC) sales continued to tumble across the traditionally lucrative Christmas period, as the retailer continues to struggle.
Mothercare said third-quarter sales fell 11.4%, with online sales dipping a further 16.3% during the 13 weeks to January 5.
Chief executive Mark Newton-Jones said: “Whilst the UK continues to be challenging, in part as a result of our planned restructuring, we are still on course to deliver the necessary transformation.”
“Our UK store closure programme continues apace and is ahead of schedule, with 36 stores currently transitioning for closure, meaning we will have a total UK estate of 79 stores by the end of March 2019.”
Last year, the group entered a company voluntary arrangement deal (CVA), in a bid to restructure the business and reverse its ailing financial fortunes.
The CVA allowed the company to close 60 stores across the UK, as well as reduce rents at various locations.
Mothercare has also raised £30 million from shareholders as part of as a share issue.
Back in August, the retailer revealed the extent of its financial woes, posting a £6.2 million loss in its interim results.
The group blamed a challenging retail climate in the UK, however, the firm remained optimistic amid its restructuring efforts and return to growth in international markets such as Russia, China and Indonesia.
The company was founded back in 1961 and has been publicly listed on the London Stock Exchange as of 1971.
Shares in the group are currently + 2.71% as of 10:57AM (GMT).
Sainsbury’s Christmas sales disappoint
Sainsbury’s (LON:SBRY) sales fell in the run-up to Christmas, amid fierce competition among supermarkets.
The UK’s second-largest supermarket blamed ‘cautious customers’ for the 1.1% fall in like-for-like sales during the 15 weeks to 5 January.
Meanwhile, Sainsbury’s said that grocery sales fare slightly better, reporting a growth of 0.4% during the third quarter.
Mike Coupe, chief executive of Sainsbury’s, commented: “Sales declined in the quarter due to cautious customer spending and our decision to reduce promotional activity across Black Friday. Clothing performed well, with strong full price sales growth in a tough market.
“Retail markets are highly competitive and very promotional and the consumer outlook continues to be uncertain.”
Some of the nation’s most well-known supermarkets are continuing to struggle amid greater competition from low-cost competitors such as Lidl and Aldi.
Just this week, Morrisons revealed its figures for the run-up to Christmas, revealing a sharp slowdown in performance.
Meanwhile, sales at Waitrose didn’t fare much better, falling 1.7% in the 12 weeks to December 30.
According to the latest figures, both grocery retailers enjoyed strong sales over the festive period, continuing to gain market share.
In the 12 weeks to 30 December, Aldi and Lidl performed strongly, with its market share growing by 10.4% and 9.4% respectively.
The UK’s leading supermarket, Tesco (LON:TSCO), is set to report on Thursday.
Shares in Sainsbury’s are currently down -0.79% as of 08:54AM (GMT).
Shefa Yamim’s Mount Carmel gemstone officially registered as a new mineral
Shefa Yamim (LON:SEFA) have confirmed the International Mineralogical Association (IMA) have officially recognised a mineral found in Shefa’s Carmel Sapphire™ as a new mineral.
The mineral is so far unique to Shefa Yamim with a chemical composition that includes Titanium, Aluminium and Zirconium.
Avi Taub, CEO of Shefa Yamim, commented on the developments:
“We are delighted that our Carmel Sapphire™ has been recognised as a host to many rare minerals. In today’s world where the prices of gems are determined predominantly by their rarity, the Carmel Sapphire™ is a unique discovery because it has not been found anywhere else in the world and was discovered by Shefa Yamim in the soil of the Holy Land.”
“We believe this substantially increases the potential value of our “Gem Box” of precious stones. The studies of Carmel Sapphire™ and its new minerals mark another milestone in the Company’s journey as we continue our progress towards trial mining in Zone 1 in 2019.”
The IMA announcement has followed a positive update in November that revealed Shefa’s Kishon Mid-Reach project’s estimated tonnage of mineral had increased to 1.1 Mt, tripling previous estimates of 350,000 t.
SEFA is set to commence trial mining of the prospect in early 2019.
Having raised £4.15m in the 2017 limiting and recently conducting a £250,000 placing the company has cash on and to pursue its mine-to-market strategy in a number of zones.
The company operates in Northern Israel and have so far recovered gemstone stones such as a 1.7ct Ruby, 5.72ct Sapphire, 2.83ct Hibonite and the 33.3ct Carmel Sapphire™. Shefa Yamin have a total of three permits that cover 60,000 hectares in the area.
“News on the cost of production and the price per caret will help show how this is a unique opportunity and make the current price look undervalued,” said analysts at Daniel Stewart in a note.
Aldi & Lidl outperform major supermarkets
Aldi and Lidl have both reported strong sales figures over the Christmas, both gaining supermarket share.
The discounters were visited by two-thirds of households in the festive season as shoppers are becoming increasingly aware of purse strings.
In the 12 weeks to 30 December, the major supermarkets lost market share whilst sales at Aldi and Lidl continued to perform strongly, growing by 10.4% and 9.4% respectively.
Fraser McKevitt, who is the head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said: “The discounters have continued to make their mark over Christmas: two-thirds of all households shopped at either Aldi or Lidl over the 12-week period culminating in a highest-ever combined Christmas market share of 12.8%”
Giles Hurley, the Aldi UK chief executive, said on the strong sales: “Our Christmas range was the largest and most innovative yet and caught the imagination of our customers, who visited our stores in record numbers.”
“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.”
In other supermarket news, Morrisons reported Christmas sales to be up by 4%. Despite the rise in sales, shares in the company fell in early trading.
“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,” said the company.
Shares in Morrisons (LON: MRW) are currently trading down -3.42% at 212,14 (1122GMT).
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%.
Greene King achieved record Christmas day sales of £7.7 million.
All sales categories saw like-for-like sales growth over the six weeks covering the Christmas period. The company’s branded Local Pubs drove strong drink sales growth. Greene King was founded in 1799 and has its headquarters in Suffolk. It currently employs roughly 39,000 people across its main trading businesses. The company remains confident of its outlook for the rest of the 2019 financial year, despite the highly reported Brexit uncertainty. “While the ongoing uncertainty around Brexit may still have an impact on consumer confidence and spending during the year, we remain confident of our outlook for the financial year. We remain focused on our strategic priorities of driving profitable sales growth, developing a more streamlined and efficient organisation, and further strengthening and improving the flexibility of our capital structure to deliver long-term value for our shareholders,” Greene King commented. Greene King’s trading update is a strikingly contrast compares to last year’s Christmas results, which were highly impacted by the snowy British weather. The company has said it remains in line to dispose 100 to 110 pubs and limit cost inflation between £10 million-£20 million in 2019. Earlier this year, Greene King announced that it sold half a million extra pints over England’s World Cup match against Panama. England’s World Cup success was a huge drive in sales over the summer for the company. Indeed, following one of Britain’s hottest summers and England’s World Cup performance, the company was the biggest gainer in the FTSE 350 at the start of September. At 10:11 GMT today, shares in Greene King plc (LON:GNK) were trading at +3.54%.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”.