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UK Retail Briefing - December 2009

ANALYST COMMENT
The man at the top
Looking for a successor
The man or the background
One company’s gain is another’s loss
HEADLINES FOR THE MONTH
Food retailers
Clothing
Multi-sector
Department stores
DIY
Electricals
Furniture retailing
Home shopping
Miscellaneous
RETAIL SALES – BACKGROUND AND OUTLOOK
Key points
Retail sales trends
Figure 1: Retail sales trends, 2008-09
BRC data
Figure 2: UK retail sales y/y growth, BRC vs ONS, 2007/09
John Lewis
Figure 3: John Lewis: Year-on-year growth, 2008-09
Inflation and wages
Figure 4: RPI vs Wage rate growth, 2007-09
The RPI up again
Figure 5: Annual percentage change in Retail Price Index for selected product groups, 2008-09
Looking forward
SECTOR ANALYSIS – ELECTRICALS
 SALES TRENDS
Figure 6: Electrical specialist retailers, sales trends, 1999-2009
Figure 7: Electrical retailers as percentage of all retail sales, 1999-2009
 CONSUMER EXPENDITURE
Figure 8: Consumer expenditure on selected product categories (£m), 1998-2009 H1
 RETAILER PERFORMANCE
Figure 9: Electricals specialists’ sales relative to spending on electricals goods, 1998-2008
Increased competition
 PROSPECTS
 RETAIL PRICE INFLATION
Figure 10: Indices of retail prices for product categories, 2000-09
Electrical retailers: Latest trends
Figure 11: UK: Leading electical retailers, 2008/09
NEWS ANALYSIS
 BAKERS (RETAIL)
Greggs eyes Threshers stores for expansion
 CO-OPS (RETAIL)
Co-operative wades into Christmas price war
Waitrose wades into Champagne price war
 CONVENIENCE STORES
Costcutter pulls out of bid for First Quench stores
 GROCERS
Asda moves first in Christmas price war, records sales increase
Hagar chief asks Walker for cash
Haldanes
…opens new store and Scottish HQ
…unveils expansion plans
Morrisons LFLs up 4.3%
Ocado ponders Carrefour link up
Sainsbury's
…boasts 'strong sales'
…plans Northern Irish expansion
Tesco
…announces £100 million Chinese expansion
…launches early Clubcard offer to woo Christmas shoppers
…plans superstore splurge
…posts "solid" sales growth
…signs deal with C&W for broadband
…to open network of 'dark stores'
…Irish store plan refused
Waitrose
…MD tipped as next Morrisons chief
…to sell goods in Shell petrol stations
 OFF-LICENCES
First Quench announces more job cuts
Majestic Wine profit up 9%
Threshers franchisees form action group
 CLOTHING RETAILING
Europe: TJX Europe Q3 LFLs up 1%
Alexon LFLs down 14%
French Connection posts sales increase
Jaeger FY profits halve
Matalan
…attracts suitors
…receives five first-round bids
Moss Bros enjoys sales rise
New Look appoints advisers for IPO
Peacocks to start selling music
Primark has "best ever" trading day in London
Ted Baker sales up 19.8%
 MIXED GOODS RETAILING
Mothercare posts £7.1 million loss
 MULTI-SECTOR RETAILING
M&S
…appoints Bolland as new chief
…offers 1p delivery for online shoppers
…ponders European return
 DEPARTMENT STORES
Debenhams
…acquires Magasin for £12.3 million
…to open in Vietnam
John Lewis reports record week
 DIY RETAILING
Kingfisher profits up 28%
Topps Tiles FY profit down
 ELECTRICALS RETAILING
Carphone Warehouse posts 88% profit boost
DSGi
…to sue legal advisers over French withdrawal
…posts £17.6 million loss
Phones 4U launches free wi-fi in-store
 MUSIC AND VIDEO GOODS RETAILING
HMV losses narrow
 FURNITURE RETAILING
Habitat
…bought by Hilco
 HOME SHOPPING
Asos enjoys sales and profits boost
Findel
…appoints new chief
...posts H1 loss
Net-a-porter H1 profits surge 56%
Shop Direct looking to relaunch Woolworths on the high street
 HEALTH AND BEAUTY RETAILING
Alliance Boots plans overseas expansion
 BOOKS AND STATIONERY RETAILING
Borders
…falls into administration
…head office staff made redundant
…on the brink of administration
Clinton Cards LFLs rise 3.9%
WH Smith
…suffers sales drop
…withdraws Borders bid
 SPORTS AND LEISURE GOODS RETAILING
Blacks Leisure CVA nears completion
JD Sports Fashion
…posts solid results
…offloads JJB stake
JJB appoints new chief executive
Sports Direct pre-tax profit down 40.8%
 JEWELLERS
Signet records $10.5 million loss
 TOYS AND GAMES RETAILING
Game Group suffers large sales fall
 MISCELLANEOUS SPECIALIST RETAILING
Halfords profit up 24%
Hobbycraft
…sales boosted by revival of traditional hobbies
…to be put up for sale
 LUXURY GOODS RETAILING
Burberry
…plans Indian venture
…profits down 19.6%
Mulberry posts strong results
 ECONOMY
BRC: November retail sales "disappointing"
London LFLs up 4.2% in October
London retail sales up 13.3%
ONS: Retail sales up in October
Retail sales volumes up, says CBI
Scottish retail sales fall behind rest of UK

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