Breakfast briefing: Retail news on Tesco, HMV, Supergroup, Majestic Wine and Topshop

HMV receiver paid over €300,000 in fees and expenses

David Carson of Deloitte, who was appointed the receiver to HMV Ireland, has received over €300,000 in fees and expenses since the Irish arm of the retail music giant went out of business eight months ago, The Irish Times reported.

According to documents filed with the Companies Office, Carson received €300,495 (excluding VAT) in fees and expenses in the period from January 16 to July 15, which work out at more than €2,300 per working day in the six-month period under review.

The music retailer closed with the loss of 300 jobs located in 16 shops in Ireland last January.

Supergroup faces shareholders resistance over directors’ pay

High street fashion retailer Supergroup, faces a shareholder resistance after Pensions & Investment Research Consultants (Pirc) recommended members to reject its remuneration report at the annual meeting on September 10. Its shareholders currently control assets in excess of £1.5trillion.

The shareholder group has warned that remuneration at Supergroup could lead to excessive pay-outs and that the performance conditions of Supergroup’s long-term incentive plan are not considered sufficiently challenging, The Telegraph reported.

Pirc has also raised concerns about the bonus paid to Susanne Given, Supergroup’s chief operating officer.

Majestic Wines launches new e-commerce website

Majestic Wines has launched a new e-commerce website to enhance the customer experience and drive further growth. The revamped website is designed in partnership with SDL Fredhopper to work across multiple devices and to offer personal recommendations to customers’ by the retailer’s team of wine experts.

The site also uses advanced geographic mapping techniques enabling Majestic Wine to balance supply and demand, and ensure compliance with licensing laws. The customer can select the closest or preferred store and be presented with the available range using near real time stock management.

Tesco criticised by ASA over misleading horsemeat ad

Tesco has been criticised by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) for claiming that the horsemeat scandal affected the entire food industry, reports The Guardian.

The ASA has raised objection to an ad run by Tesco in February, which implied that all food retailers and suppliers were likely to have sold products contaminated with horsemeat when relatively few instances of contamination had been identified at the time the ad appeared. However the ad is now banned by the ASA.

In response to the ruling, Tesco has accepted that not all retailers and suppliers have been implicated in the sale of products containing horsemeat.

Topshop and Topman expands in Germany with stores in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Munich

British retail chains Topshop and Topman will expand in Germany with a store at KaDeWe in Berlin. The store will have an area dedicated to Topman brand on the first floor and second floor measuring 250 sq. m. will be occupied by Topshop brand.

Further, the retail chains plan to open shops in Düsseldorf and Hamburg this week, and at Oberpollinger in Munich on 21 September, Sportswear International reported.

This will be the first time for buyers in Germany to buy the two brands offline.