European Retail Briefing -  August  2019

ANALYST COMMENT – MARKET REGULATIONS
Market regulations
Regulations in France
So what’s special about Sunday?
But what to customers think?
Getting round the bans
Objections from retailers
Regulations in general
EUROPEAN RETAIL SALES 
Key points
Retail sales
Figure 1: Major European economies:  Year-on-year retail sales value growth, 2018-19
Figure 2: Major European economies:  Year-on-year retail sales volume growth, 2018-19
Inflation
Figure 3: Major European economies:  All items CPI, 2018-19
Figure 4: Major European economies:  Food price inflation, 2018-19
LAUNCH ACTIVITY AND INNOVATIONS 
Finland: S Group’s new counter calculates the consumer's carbon footprint
France: Carrefour Bio opens first store in Brussels
Spain: Carrefour and Glovo to form delivery partnership
HEADLINES FOR THE MONTH
Grocers
Clothing retailing
Multi-sector retailing
DIY retailing
Furniture retailing
Health & beauty retailing
NEWS ANALYSIS – FOOD AND DRINK 
 CO-OPS
UK: Co-op extends 'pay-in-aisle' to 30 stores
 CONVENIENCE STORES
UK: McColl’s reports a pre-tax loss
UK: Simply Fresh launches pop-up food market in Solihull
UK: Tesco to focus on Metro as it simplifies store operations
 GROCERS
Finland: Half year results for Kesko sees 0.8% sales growth
France: Carrefour
…selling stake in logistics real estate business
…Carrefour and Spanish Glovo to form delivery partnership
…Carrefour half-year results
France: Casino Group
…targets a maximum debt level of €1.5 billion
…resells its activities in the Indian Ocean
Germany:  Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd to align sourcing of their private brands
Italy: Conad sales grow 3.5%
Ireland: JC Savage supermarket to be salvaged by Dunnes Stores takeover
Netherlands: H1 results from Netherland-based Sligro
Netherlands: Jumbo reports positive half year results
Netherlands: Positive results for Netherland-based Jan Linders in FY2018
Poland:  Poland's Grupa Muszkieterów sees turnover up 5% in first half
Spain:  Carrefour Spain replaces plastic bags with cotton meshes
Spain: Auchan Spain announces an increase in turnover of 1.4%
Spain: Euromadi forecasts growth of 11% in 2019
Sweden: Swedish Axfood reports strong Q2 growth
UK: Asda uses 90,000 plastic bottles for car park resurfacing
UK: Iceland:
…generates £500,000 of in-store sales from mobile discount vouchers
…trialling new plastic bag free concept
UK: Lidl combats plastic waste with its new reusable bags for fruit and veg
UK: M&S
…incentivising reusable containers for food-to-go
…unveils a new-look food hall
…WHSmith ready to open its M&S Food concession in Darlington
UK: Sainsbury
…and Deliveroo partner up for delivery trial
…scraps plastic bags for fruit and veg in reusable bag trial
UK: Tesco
…and YO! Sushi extend partnership
…to quit using plastic bags for grocery deliveries
UK: Waitrose
…closes 7 stores culling 700 jobs
…to extend ‘While You’re Away’ delivery trial
…waves away plastic with new multi-coloured recycled trays
 OFF-LICENCES
UK: Majestic Wine to be acquired by US investment firm Fortress
 OTHER FOOD SPECIALISTS
UK: Greggs interims post a 14.7% rise in sales
UK: Holland & Barrett launches on-to-go lunch range
UK: Hotel Chocolat see palatable full year sales up by 14%
NEWS ANALYSIS – CLOTHING AND FOOTWEAR
France: Sonia Rykiel goes into court ordered liquidation
Spain: Zeeman to operate 250 stores in Spain
Sweden: Major shareholder Melby Gard makes bid for Sweden’s Kappahl
UK: Arcadia rescue faces US legal challenge
UK: Jobs axed as Boohoo acquires Karen Millen and Coast
UK: Burberry
…creates a collection from sustainable nylon
…like-for-like sales rise by 4%
UK: Jack Wills
Sports Direct buys Jack Wills out of administration
…Sports Direct seeks rent cuts for Jack Wills stores
UK: Joules report soaring full-year profits
UK: Julian Dunkerton ‘steadies ship’ after Superdry see plunging loss in profit
UK: The last of Bonmarché’s shareholders sells to Philip Day
UK: Next posts 4.3% increase in full price sales for H1
UK: White Stuff profits slump from digital spend and discounting
UK: £7 million raised for Sosander through sale of new shares
 FOOTWEAR RETAILING
UK: Russell & Bromley to join the line-up at Covent Garden
UK: Vans to occupy former Miss Selfridge flagship site
NEWS ANALYSIS – MIXED GOODS
 DEPARTMENT STORES
UK: Bluegem capital offloads Liberty in a £300 million deal
UK: Debenhams
…to launch new in-house brands
…asks lenders for additional £50 million
UK: John Lewis to launch new in-house menswear brand
 MULTI-SECTOR RETAILING
France: LVMH to take a 10% share of Stella McCartney's fashion business
Switzerland: Richemont sees revenue increase by 12%
UK: B&M posts ‘record breaking’ sales
UK: Flying Tiger halts UK store openings after profits plunge
UK: Poundland outperforms the high street with reported revenue growth of 1.6%
NEWS ANALYSIS – HOUSEHOLD GOODS 
 DIY RETAILING
France: 789 jobs to be cut due to store closures from Castorama and Brico Dépôt
UK: Homebase saves Bathstore from administration
UK: Travis Perkins
…accelerates Wickes disposal plans
…set to demerge Wickes
 ELECTRICAL RETAILING
UK: Dixons Carphone launches AR experience
 FURNITURE RETAILING
France: Miliboo publishes higher full-year results
France: Vente-unique posts 10% growth in sales
UK: After a strong trading performance DFS profits are on track
 HOMEWARES RETAILING
UK: Sales soar for Dunelm
NEWS ANALYSIS – ONLINE
UK: Amazon set to open second Clicks & Mortar store in Cardiff
UK: ASOS issues profit warning
UK: Emma Mattress revenues grow to £18m
UK: Eve Sleep posts 0.9% dip in half year results
UK: Findel makes ‘solid start to the year’
UK: Opumo receives investment from Scandi fund
UK: Takeaway.com and Just Eat agree on merger terms
NEWS ANALYSIS – OTHER RETAIL 
 HEALTH & BEAUTY RETAILING
France: Interparfums sales rise by 15.2% thanks to Coach and Montblanc
France: L’Oreal disappoints with Q2 growth
Italy: Sisley up 7.5% sell-in sales for first half of 2019
UK:  Boots trials reverse vending machines
UK: Bodycare FY2018: modest growth and profit drop
UK: Molton Brown’s debut in fragrances
UK: Savers sees solid growth of 10.2% for FY2018
 SHOPPING CENTRES
UK: Hammerson hit by CVA’s and administrations
UK: Intu seeks head office job cuts
UK: Westfield’s UK income hit by retail CVAs
 SPORTS AND LEISURE GOODS RETAILING
UK: Sports Direct
…delays full-year results
…announces release date of delayed full-year results
…posts a £54.6m loss in full-year results
 JEWELLERS
Greece: Damning deficits found in Folli Follies accounts
UK: Watches of Switzerland recorded surging profits
 MISCELLANEOUS SPECIALISTS
France: French children’s product retailer Orchestra posts stable first quarter results
Netherlands: Specsavers Netherlands sees a record turnover of €150m for FY2018
UK: Hobbycraft's full-year profits surge
UK: Mothercare seeks to offload UK arm following full-year losses
UK: Pets at Home makes strong start to year
NEWS ANALYSIS – ECONOMY
UK: BRC reports ‘weakest July on record’ for UK retailers
UK: June retail sales up by 4.0%