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Retail Intelligence

Weekly Roundup… 9 January, 2018

By Publications Checkout
Weekly Roundup… 9 January, 2018

A wave of store closings and retailer bankruptcies is coming in early 2018, as the industry deteriorates faster than analysts had expected a year ago, according to Swiss Bank Credit Suisse. The retail business’s “large and undeniable transformation” will crimp rents and vacancy rates this year, while bonds backed by these loans will likely weaken, according to strategists from the bank.

UK consumers curbed their spending for the first time in five years in 2017 as surging inflation and falling real wages took their toll on high street retailers. Visa’s UK consumer spending index slipped 0.3% last year from 2016. It also fell an annual 1% in December, the crucial Christmas shopping period for stores. It’s unlikely to recover this year, the credit card company said.

Britain should introduce a ‘Latte Levy’ of 25 pence for disposable coffee cups, a cross-party panel of UK lawmakers recently said. By taxing the cups, the Environmental Audit Committee aims to encourage recycling and reduce waste from retailers such as Starbucks and Costa. The country currently produces 30,000 tons of coffee cup waste per year.

Dealz parent company Steinhoff International, the South African retail giant consumed by an accounting scandal, said some of its business units need “significant near-term liquidity” as its chief financial officer stepped down to focus on rescue efforts. CFO Ben la Grange will be replaced by Philip Dieperink, finance chief for the company’s UK subsidiary, the owner of France’s Conforama and Mattress Firm in the US said recently.

French dairy giant Lactalis has bought the US-based Icelandic-style yogurt maker Siggi’s for an undisclosed price. Siggi’s was founded by Siggi Hilmarsson who, after moving to New York from his native Iceland, started making his own yogurt. Hilmarsson found American too sweet and full of extra ingredients, and so devised a recipe based on skyr, a local style of yogurt he grew up eating in Iceland with less sugar.

© 2017 - Checkout Magazine by Kevin Duggan

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