Retail Week looks ahead to the next seven days with a full-year update from DFS and the latest retail sales figures from July on the agenda.
Retail sales
The BRC-KPMG will unveil its latest figures on Tuesday, with retailers looking for signs of improvement on last month’s data. Retail sales fell 0.5% on a like-for-like basis during the five weeks to July 2, although total sales inched up 0.2% during the period. Non-food sales posted their slowest incline since April 2012, rising just 0.3%, as unseasonal wet weather during June dampened performance in the fashion sector in particular. However, many retailers will have banked on bouncing back by capitalising on the July heatwave and the BRC-KPMG figures will provide an indication as to whether they managed to rebound.
DFS
The furniture specialist posts a full-year trading update on Thursday, with the City expecting to see signs that the retailer has built trading momentum from its interim figures. Back in March, DFS revealed that its EBITDA rose 12.3% to £31m at the half-year stage, as gross climbed 7% to £461.3m. At the time, boss Ian Filby attributed the success to “the current health of the furniture market” and “the success of our growth initiatives”. These have included the opening of smaller format stores in Westfield Stratford and Intu Bromley, as well as its expansion into the Netherlands.
No comments yet