Breakfast Briefing: Retail news on Lush, Phones 4U and Tesco

Phones 4U administrator could launch legal action against EE

Phones 4U’s administrators are gearing up for a legal action against third party debtors including the UK’s biggest mobile phone group EE. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has issued a series of so-called ‘letters before action’, setting out the obligations of debtors to repay money owed to the company prior to its collapse, according to Sky News.

Sources close to the situation said that mobile phone network group EE was among the parties to have been contacted by PwC in relation to an undisclosed financial liability. It is unclear whether formal legal action will be pursued by PwC, or how long debtors have been given to repay the outstanding sums.

Lush ‘best high street brand’ for second straight year

Cosmetics retailer Lush has narrowly beaten John Lewis to be named the best high street brand for the second consecutive year. According to Which?’s annual retailer survey, Lush secured an overall customer satisfaction score of 80% and was described as ‘helpful’ and ‘friendly’ while its products were ‘excellent’. John Lewis, which narrowly came second with a score of 79%, was similarly found to have great customer service and high quality products, while customers also commented on the ambience of its stores. The results are based on the opinions of 9,409 people who have shopped in the stores in the last six months.

Tesco to reduce sugar content in soft drinks

Tesco is planning to minimise the sugar content of its soft drinks by 5% every year in what campaigners described as the first “major sugar reduction programme” by any UK retailer. The strategy will see all added sugar taken out of the supermarket’s ‘Kids’ category drinks, while own-brand full sugar drinks will be reformulated to reduce sugar content by 5% a year, according to The Independent.