Superdry revenues are down 1.9% as it continues to suffer amid the pandemic.

Losses before tax narrowed from £10.6m to £2.8m whilst statutory pre-tax profit increased to £4m.

The group is expected to achieve expectations for the full-year. The retailer ended the half-year with £3.9m net debt. The group has started to unwind a £10m repayment in debt.

“In line with our full-price strategy, we have not held an end of season sale in our stores and, over the past 11-weeks, have seen a +4.1% gross margin improvement compared to two years ago,” the company said in a statement.

“Our performance over the peak trading period has given us confidence that we will achieve current market expectations for FY22 adjusted PBT.”

Workspace Group has posted a strong third quarter despite the guidance for people to work from home.

The flexible office space has been running at 43% of pre-Covid levels, falling in January as Covid rates rose over Chrismas.

“It has been a good quarter, with continued positive momentum in occupancy and pricing,” said chief executive, Graham Clemett.

“We are seeing strong demand for our space, with good levels of enquiries, viewings and lettings despite the renewed work from home guidance issued by the Government in December.”

“Our performance in the third quarter and early signs of trading in the fourth show that SMEs are looking through the current short-term uncertainty to choose the right space for their business longer-term. They are looking for flexible terms and attractive, sustainable office space in well-connected locations and Workspace is ideally placed to continue to capture this demand.”

ABF has said that it will increase the costs of its groceries amid inflationary pressures.

The group, which owns a grocery, sugar, agriculture and ingredients businesses as well as the retailer Primark, has said the rising costs are impacting profits.

“In our Grocery, Sugar, Ingredients and Agriculture businesses we have seen an escalation in the cost of energy, logistics and commodities,” said ABF in a statement.

“We have been implementing plans to offset these through operational cost savings and, where necessary, the implementation of price increases. We expect an increase in the adjusted operating profit for Sugar. We expect reduced adjusted operating profit margins in Grocery and Ingredients at the half year, due to phasing in fully recovering cost but a recovery in the run rate of these margins by the financial year end.”

In Primark, sales are still lower than they were before the pandemic. ABF is proposing to cut 400 roles to simplify management at the store.

“The effect of inflationary pressure on raw materials and supply chain in this first quarter has been broadly mitigated by a favourable US dollar exchange rate compared to last year and a reduction in store operating costs and overheads.”

“We are proposing to simplify our in-store UK retail management structure as part of our ongoing programme to improve the efficiency of our store retail operations.”

WH Smith has reported a slump in spending across airports and train stations amid Omicron.

The group’s travel arm has been hit by the pandemic. Airport stores were trading at 58% of 2019 levels in January. Stores at train stations were trading at 69% in December.

“We have seen a small impact from the Omicron variant in January but, as elsewhere, we believe this will be short term,” said WH Smith.

The group’s high street stores faired better and were trading at 87% of 2019 levels in January.

 “Looking ahead, although we are seeing a small impact from the Omicron variant, we anticipate a resumption in the recovery of our travel markets over the coming months,” said chief executive, Carl Cowling.

Centaur Media shares jumped over 6% this morning on strong revenues.

The group has said that it expects to have revenues of at least £38.5m for the full year. Centaur Media ended the year with £13.1m, which was up from the £8.3m in 2020.

 “In 2021, we introduced our Margin Acceleration Plan, MAP23, to drive profitable revenue growth for the business,” said chief executive, Swag Mukerji.

“I am pleased with the progress our brands have made with this strategy over the past  twelve months and both our Flagship 4 and Core Brands have seen strong trading performances. We  remain on track to hit our MAP23 targets.” 

Full-year results will be released on March 16.

Inflation has jumped to a 30-year high, hitting 5.4%.

According to the Office for National Statistics, consumer prices index rose from 5.1% in November to 5.4% in December. Inflation has not been this high since it was 7.1% in March 1992.

“What is of particular concern is that the change from November has come mainly from an increase in the price of food,” said Kitty Ussher, chief economist at the Institute of Directors.

“Not only does this provide additional evidence that inflation is becoming endemic rather than transitory, it also bodes ill for households facing multiple rises in the cost of living this spring.

“We therefore expect interest rates to rise again when the Bank of England monetary policy committee next meets in early February.”

Prices in food and furniture and household goods due to rising gas and electricity prices pushed up inflation.