Retail news round-up: Philip Green doubles Arcadia's pension contribution, Sainsbury's to axe staff numbers and Morrisons to report increase in pre-tax profits

Philip Green doubles pension funds into Arcadia Group

Sir Philip Green has doubled annual payments to £50m a year into the pension fund of Arcadia Group to reduce its £200m deficit, The Financial Times reported.

Arcadia declined to comment whether it is expecting the valuation of its pension deficit to change.

Investment bankers said the Arcadia pension deficit would pose a serious problem if Green decided to sell any of his holdings that are exposed to the UK’s tough retail market.

Sainsbury’s to axe 400 jobs in stores shake-up

Sainsbury’s is set to cut approximately 400 jobs as a part of restructuring of its store operations, The Guardian reported.

The grocer is scraping the role of price controllers from its supermarkets.

The affected workers will be offered redundancy or other roles in the grocery chain.

The supermarket is also removing night shifts in 140 stores, affecting 4,000 employees who will be moved to either early morning or late evening shifts.

Trade union Unite urged Sainsbury’s to guarantee that there will be no compulsory redundancies.

Morrisons to reveal increase in pre-tax profits

Morrisons is expected to reveal a 54% increase in pre-tax profits to £335m, Belfast Telegraph reported.

Analysts at Jefferies are expecting a growth of 1.8% in like-for-like sales.

Morrisons’ chief executive David Potts said that the firm had "found its mojo" following a 2.9% hike in like-for-like sales during festive period.

Mr Potts has secured a wholesale deal with Amazon, allowing Morrisons products to be delivered to online shoppers around the country.

Former owner bids to reclaim Jaeger

Harold Tillman, former head of Jaeger, is making efforts to buy back the retail chain five years after losing control of the business, The Telegraph reported.

Private equity firm Better Capital has hired AlixPartners to explore a sale of Jaeger, with the value of its investment in the chain to approximate £30m.

According to sources the first round bids are due in the next couple of weeks.

 

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