Breakfast briefing: Retail news on Tesco, Burberry and more

Tesco in lawsuit over alleged discrimination

Tesco is under a lawsuit filed by its workers on grounds of age and gender discrimination following the cut in pay rates for night and weekend shifts.

Tesco’s long-serving employees, who joined the supermarket before 1999, are fighting the cut in wages introduced in July this year.

Tesco announced the changes in February which were agreed in consultation with the shopworkers’ trade union, Usdaw, and staff representatives.

The supermarket stated a 3.1% pay rise to £7.62 per hour made it one of the highest payers in the retail industry. However, staff would receive time and a half for Sunday and bank holiday shifts, compared with double time received earlier.

Lawyers believe that up to 38,000 staff paid by the hour could be affected.

Burberry and Asos benefit from good summer

Burberry is expected to have benefited from a better summer for luxury sales, with retail experts forecasting a 1% rise in like-for-like sales, the Belfast Telegraph reported.

The fall in the pound is providing a boost for Burberry, which makes most of its sales overseas.

Asos will also show a sales boost in America and Europe due to sterling's collapse following Britain's vote to leave the European Union.

The broker's analyst George Mensah said: "We view the online fast-fashion market in the US as underdeveloped compared with the domestic UK market, thus representing an opportunity for those businesses with a compelling proposition such as Asos and Boohoo."

Retailers to up prices by 5% as pound hits low

Retailers plans to impose price rises that could add 5% to shopping bills by the new year as the pound plunges below ‘Project Fear’ forecasts, This Is Money reported.

The hikes will cost consumers approximately £15bn next year.

Most executives from supermarkets, fashion retailers and suppliers have issued warnings and predicted price rises of at least 5%.