Agenda: Farfetch and BRC-KPMG retail sales figures

BRC-KPMG

The latest BRC-KPMG sales figures are released on Tuesday.

Retail sales fell 1.3% in the month to June 29, against an increase of 2.3% the previous year, while like-for-like sales decreased 1.6% year on year, down from a 1.1% uplift the previous year.

This weak comparable performance dragged the sector’s three-month average to a decline of 0.1%, while the 12-month average increase was stifled to 0.6%, the lowest since records began in December 1995.

Non-food sales fell 2.1% overall and were down 2% on a like-for-like basis, exacerbated by 4.3% and 4.1% slumps overall in-store non-food sales and like-for-like sales respectively.

This marked the worst quarterly decline in non-food sales since February 2009 and was below the average 12-month decrease of 0.8%.

Majestic Wine

Majestic Wine holds its AGM on Thursday.

After the announcement that Majestic has been acquired by US investment firm Fortress for around £100m, shareholders will officially vote on the outcome of the specialist retailer.

Fortress said it sees the wine retailer as “providing a great opportunity to enter UK retail”. The sale includes the website, bricks-and-mortar stores, headquarters plus on-trade and French divisions.

The investment firm has already put plans in place to achieve its “vision for future growth”.

Its new buying and merchandising director, Robert Cooke, will oversee a full range review, refit of the store estate with new shelving and tasting areas, new store openings and the roll-out of its new service Wineify.

Farfetch

Farfetch posts its second-quarter results on Thursday.

The luxury online retailer posted a 39% jump in revenue to $174.1m during its first quarter.

Farfetch founder, chief executive and co-chair José Neves said: “Farfetch enjoyed excellent growth in first quarter 2019, with Platform GMV rising 44% to $415m, or approximately 50% growth on a constant currency basis. This outpaced both our expectations and, by some distance, growth in the online personal luxury goods sector as we continued to gain market share.”