Retail

Bloomberg Nautica, the apparel line known for its ’90s-era panache, is looking for a new owner to steer the ship. VF Corp., the clothing giant that also owns North Face, Vans and Wrangler, announced that it was scrapping Nautica from its portfolio. The company reclassified the business as “discontinued operations” last quarter, though it hopes to find a buyer for …

Bloomberg Swiss watch exports kicked off 2018 with the strongest growth in more than five years, buoyed by strong demand for high-end timepieces in Asia and a later Chinese New Year. Shipments rose 13 percent to 1.6 billion francs ($1.7 billion) in January, the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry said. That’s the biggest jump since October 2012 and the …

Bloomberg State-controlled VTB Group is buying 29 percent of Magnit PJSC from billionaire Sergey Galitskiy, who said investors don’t trust his vision for Russia’s second-largest food retailer after its share price plunged in the past year. Galitskiy will quit as chief executive officer after selling $2.5 billion of shares to VTB, Magnit said in a regulatory filing. Galitskiy said he …

Bloomberg President Donald Trump “feels strongly” that the US should permit collection of state and local sales taxes on purchases made over the internet, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said. Mnuchin, speaking at a hearing before the House Ways and Means Committee, said he has spoken with Trump about the issue, and that the president “does feel strongly” that state and …

Bloomberg A surge in US apparel costs helped fuel above-forecast inflation for January, sending Treasury yields higher. But the era of markdowns for struggling retailers is far from over. Clothing prices, which account for 3 percent of the consumer price index, jumped 1.7 percent in the biggest monthly gain since 1990, Labor Department data showed. That helped the so-called core …

Bloomberg UK retail sales barely grew in January, more evidence consumers are reluctant to splash out amid a squeeze from rising prices. Sales increased 0.1 percent from December, far below the 0.5 percent gain forecast by economists in a Bloomberg survey. From a year earlier, sales rose 1.6 percent, the weakest for a January in four years, the Office for …

Bloomberg Tesco Plc faces growing investor pressure to sweeten its 3.9 billion pound ($5.5 billion) offer for wholesaler Booker Group Plc ahead of a shareholder vote in less than two weeks. Alpine Associates Management Inc. opposes Tesco’s offer on the existing terms and believes Booker shareholders should vote against the deal, the investor said by email. Alpine has an economic …

Bloomberg US shoppers may be ordering more clothing than socks and underwear on Amazon after all. Amazon.com Inc. is spiriting away share of apparel sales from Target Corp., Macy’s Inc. and JC Penney Co., according to a report by Coresight Research. Amazon Fashion is tied with Target as the second-most-shopped apparel retailer in the US, behind Walmart Inc., as measured …

Bloomberg Walmart Inc. is introducing low-cost clothing brands for women, kids and plus-size customers, aiming to lure shoppers as Amazon.com Inc. gobbles up more apparel sales. The store brands include Time and Tru in ladieswear — which will replace the jettisoned DanskinNow label — along with Terra & Sky in plus-size apparel and Wonder Nation for kids, according to a …

Bloomberg Investors in Hennes & Mauritz AB left its first ever capital markets day wondering whether the retailer is aware its clothes seem to be going out of fashion. With the value of their H&M shares down about 45 percent since the end of 2016, owners said management gave a lot of details on pretty much everything except the main …