Up-to-date coverage of the latest events in UK retail.

Wyevale Garden Centres sells two more centres

Wyevale Garden Centres has announced it is selling two more of its centres in two separate transactions. Springfield Garden Centre is being sold to Longacres Garden Centres and Par Garden Centre to Maidenhead Aquatics. 

The sales are expected to be completed during August and September respectively and both units will continue to be run as garden centres. 

The garden centre retailer previously sold nine of its stores to Blue Diamond in July as part of its ongoing plan to trim its store estate. Wyevale has sold over 100 of its centres since May last year. 

Games Workshop full-year profits and sales rise

The gaming figuring specialist posted a 9.5% rise in pre-tax profit to £81.3m in the 52 weeks to June 2.

Revenue rose 16% to £256.6m year-on-year.

Chief executive Kevin Rountree said: “An amazing set of results - the best year in Games Workshop’s history, so far. You can once again see from these results that our business and the Warhammer Hobby are in good shape.

The board and I continue to believe that the prospects for the business are good.”

Greggs sales and profits climb in “exceptional first half”

Greggs has recorded a jump in its interim profits as demand rose driven by the popularity of its new vegan sausage roll.

The food-to-go retailer recorded a 63% spike in underlying pre-tax profit to £40.6m in the six months to June 29.

Sales rose 14.7% to £546m year-on-year, bolstered by a 10.5% uplift in like-for-like sales from company managed stores.

Sports Direct auditor to quit over €674m tax bill bombshell

Sports Direct’s auditor Grant Thornton told regulators that it intended to quit due to concerns regarding the disclosure of the retailer’s eleventh hour Belgian tax bill.

Grant Thornton, which has audited the sporting goods retailer since its 2007 stock market flotation, will resign after the retailer’s annual general meeting in September.

According to the Financial Times the auditors decided to step down from auditing Sports Direct, one of its most significant clients, after the retailer failed to inform Grant Thornton of its €674m (£618m) tax liability until hours before it was due to sign off its annual accounts.