Breakfast Briefing: Retail news on Apple, high street sales and DFS

Apple Pay hit by fraudulent transactions

The Apple Pay mobile payment service has been hit by a wave of fraudulent transactions using stolen credit-card data from a series of breaches at retailers, reports the Wall Street Journal.

The fraud stems from breaches at retail giants including Home Depot and Target Corp. The majority of unauthorized purchases have been for big-ticket items at Apple’s own stores.

High street sales fall in February

High street sales fell last month as the cold weather put consumers off shopping and offset the Valentine’s Day boost from sales, reports City AM. Mid-market retailers recorded a sales drop by 0.2% year-on-year, despite easy comparatives on last year due to the flooding, according to figures from BDO.

The fashion sector was hit hardest with a 0.6% decline despite Valentine’s Day promotions helping to drive a 2.2 per cent uplift in fashion sales in February.

DFS sets share price at lower end of range

DFS has set its share at the lower end of the marketed range in a move that reduces the value of the company to £543.2m.

The furniture retailer floats today and expects to raise gross proceeds of £98m from the issue of new shares, which will be used to reduce debt..