In the week after Asda appointed its new chairman, Allan Leighton, the nationals focused on the supermarket’s ongoing financial woes. The Telegraph reported that Asda was at risk of being forced to refinance its entire multibillion-pound debt pile because of a £900m repayment owed to its former American owner Walmart.
The Times also reported on how Fitch, the credit rating agency, has warned that a looming bill owed to the US retailer could force an overhaul of the supermarket chain’s capital structure. The bill, due by 2028, includes £500 million for Walmart’s remaining stake, along with £400 million in interest.
The papers also went big on Black Friday weekend. The Guardian reported that the number of transactions made by Nationwide Building Society members was up 12% by 1pm compared with Black Friday last year and was 16% up on 2022.
The Standard, too, reported on Nationwide’s data, calling out the 5.2 million transactions made by its customers by 2pm on Friday 30 November.
Despite an uptick in transactions on Black Friday, total footfall at retail destinations fell by 4.5% earlier in the month, as reported by The Guardian [British Retail Consortium 4 w/e 23 November 2024]. Reduced footfall was linked to “low consumer confidence” and travel disruption prompted by Storm Bert, said Helen Dickinson, the chief executive of the BRC.
Reduced footfall is likely the cause of part-time vacancies for seasonal work declining for the fourth year in a row. The Telegraph, however, blamed Reeves raising employers’ National Insurance for this year’s reduction in vacancies.
Concerns over footfall have not deterred Marks & Spencer from eyeing up new bricks and mortar sites in Spain, as reported by The Times. The retailer will return to Madrid after 23 years, opening a clothing and beauty store in La Vaguada shopping centre. It also plans to open a store in the southern city of Granada which will offer menswear, womenswear, lingerie and beauty.
Nando’s is also hoping to open new sites. The business cut its losses in the financial year to February 2024 despite a “challenging” cost environment. It will open a further 14 restaurants this year, thanks to “strong customer demand”.
Fears about the health of the UK economy caused business confidence to fall in November, but companies appear upbeat about their longer-term prospects (The Times). The latest Lloyds Bank Business Barometer, a monthly survey of business sentiment, showed that confidence slipped three percentage points to 41% last month. However, the survey revealed that companies were more positive about their own trading prospects, with 63% predicting more activity in the coming year.
This optimism does not appear to extend to English winemakers, who are navigating the impact of Rachel Reeves’ Budget. The Financial Times featured an exclusive interview with Nick Speakman, the owner of Missing Gate Wines, who said he had held off on expansion plans and laid off three members of staff due to increases in employee national insurance contributions and changes to inheritance tax relief on agricultural land.
In less serious news, anthropomorphising fruit could be the secret to tackling food waste, according to new research. Academics from the University of Bath found that labelling lone bananas as “sad singles” tugs at shoppers’ heartstrings and increases sales by over half (The Standard).
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