Up-to-date coverage of the latest events in UK retail.
7:50am Marks & Spencer fashion and home redundancies loom
The department store retailer has launched a consultation process in a bid to simplify its clothing and home division which will result in 47 roles being made redundant, according to Drapers.
The redundancies are expected to be made across the retailer’s buying, merchandising, marketing, supply chain and logistics teams in a bid to drive decision-making efficiencies.
A spokeswoman for the retailer said: “As part of our clothing and home business transformation, we have proposed some changes to simplify the structure of our team. We believe these changes will help us speed up our decision making as we work to restore our style credentials. We’re committed to retaining great talent at M&S and whilst it’s never easy to propose changes that impact, people we will fully support any colleagues affected through the consultation process.”
7.49am Watches of Switzerland considers IPO as sales rise
Watches of Switzerland has unveiled that it will consider a float after posting an increase in sales for its fourth quarter.
The luxury jewellery group is mulling a possible stock market float in a bid to supercharge its growth.
If the initial public offering (IPO) proceeds it will comprise a combination of new shares to be issued by Watches of Switzerland and existing shares to be sold by existing shareholders including Apollo Global Management.
7.32am N Brown profits edge up despite sales decline
N Brown has posted an uptick in profits for its full-year results despite a decline in sales as boss Steve Johnson said a re-focusing of the group’s strategy is “now required.”
The fashion group’s pre-tax profit increased to £83.6m up for the 52 weeks to March 2 up from £81.6m for the same period the previous year.
However, on a statutory basis, the fashion retailers’ losses widened to £57.5m down form £16.2m the previous year.
7.12am Zalando sales and profits grow
Zalando has posted an increase in sales and profits and gained more customers during its first quarter.
The online fashion retailer posted €6.5m (£5.5m) in adjusted EBITDA during the first quarter of the year up from €0.4m (£0.3m) for the same period the previous year.
The upmarket fashion platform recorded a 15.2% increase in sales growth to €1.4bn (£1.2bn) down slightly from 22% for the first quarter last year.
Zalando attributed its strong start to the year to “expanding its customer reach” as active customers increased by 14.1% to 27.2 million.