Top story:
WHSmith’s high-street stores saw sales fall 6% in the second half of the year as the company gears up for a potential sell-off.
It was the only drag in an otherwise strong set of results that saw total revenue grow 3% in the 21 weeks to 25 January. Revenue at its UK travel arm rose 7% in the period, building on strong growth the prior year.
The retail chain has confirmed it is now in talks to sell its high-street business to focus exclusively on the travel division in airports and railway stations.
Full story here.
Morning update:
Morrisons delivered its strongest quarter for almost four years following a year of “urgent reinvigoration and positive progress”.
Like-for-like sales increased by 4.9% to £3.8bn in the final quarter of the group’s financial year to 27 October. The result marked eight consecutive quarters of positive LfL sales growth.
Full story here.
In a battle of the online wine retailers, Virgin Wines and Naked Wines both released trading figures covering the Christmas period this morning.
Virgin Wines revenue was broadly flat at £34.1m for the six months to 27 December although a strong Christmas period saw sales rise 9% in December to the highest level since Covid lockdowns.
Virgin said the Christmas performance was underpinned by initiatives to grow the customer base and optimise acquisitions, as well as strategic marketing and focused promotional activity.
Full story here.
Naked Wines saw revenue fall 10.2% in the 13 weeks to 30 December, this was in line with expectations and an improvement from the half year mark when it was down over 14%.
It has given some investors hope the company is finally moving in the right direction.
Full story here.
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