Bloomberg Members of the Walton family, heirs to the Wal-Mart Stores Inc. fortune, are backing a startup that thinks it can turn a profit by reducing food waste. The business, called FoodMaven, has completed an $8.6 million Series A fundraising round that includes financing from the billionaire Walton clan. The family office is Walton Enterprises, which holds nearly half of ...
Read More »Retail
Britain scrimps at department stores to fund holiday feasts
Bloomberg Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc enjoyed a bumper Christmas season as UK consumers squeezed by inflation cut back on department-store spending to dress their Christmas tables in style. The Bradford, England-based grocer’s sales during the holidays beat analyst estimates as consumers splashed out on items from its premium range, including French yule logs. The shares rose as much as 4.7 ...
Read More »New Neiman Marcus CEO faces steep challenge of $4.8bn debt
Bloomberg Geoffroy van Raemdonck has spent his career at global fashion companies such as Ralph Lauren Corp. and Louis Vuitton. But it will take more than an eye for style to fix the problems at Neiman Marcus Group Ltd., a quintessentially American luxury department-store chain hoping to relive its former glory. Van Raemdonck, who becomes chief executive officer next month, ...
Read More »Mothercare’s UK sales sink over holiday season
Bloomberg Mothercare Plc reported a sharp drop in UK sales over the holiday season, underlining the depths of the country’s retail crisis as store owners wrestle with higher costs and a shift to online shopping. Like-for-like sales in the UK declined 7.2 percent in the past 12 weeks, the childrenswear retailer said on Monday. Gross margins are also set to ...
Read More »Thailand’s Central Group expects online surge through JD pact
Bloomberg The company with the biggest grip on Thailand’s brick-and-mortar retail market is expecting a partnership with China’s JD.com Inc. to help it do the same in online sales. Central Group, which controls Thailand’s biggest operator of shopping malls and department stores, expects online sales to account for as much as 15 percent of its revenue in five years, from ...
Read More »Grocery price war heats up as Aldi, Lidl make inroads
Bloomberg The price war in the American grocery aisle is getting more intense. And believe it or not, the reason isn’t Amazon.com Inc. Amazon’s debut as a brick-and-mortar grocery chain in 2017 sent tremors through the supermarket industry, with Kroger Co. and other established players losing billions in market value. But with its plans for Whole Foods developing slowly, Amazon ...
Read More »Beautycounter raises $65mn
Bloomberg Counter Brands LLC, parent company of skin-care and cosmetics seller Beautycounter, raised about $65 million in new funding as it seeks to expand, according to a person familiar with the matter. The financing round was led by Mousse Partners and included earlier investor TPG Growth, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the details are private. ...
Read More »China’s baby-formula revamp may boom Nestle, Danone
Bloomberg A safety overhaul of China’s notorious baby-formula industry removed about 1,400 products from store shelves this week, clearing the way for international brands such as Nestle SA and Danone to grab greater shares of a $20 billion market. The regulations, effective from January 1, require factories making formula to register those products with China’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ...
Read More »Next boosts UK’s Brexit-hit shops with stronger Christmas
Bloomberg Next Plc brought some cheer to UK retailers struggling with Brexit-related costs and the rise of online shopping, reporting stronger-than-expected Christmas sales and lifting its profit guidance. Shares of the apparel and home-furnishings chain, the first major British retailer to report on the holiday season, rose as much as 9.9 percent after it said price pressure would ease over ...
Read More »Steinhoff gains as it plans to restate earlier results
Bloomberg Shares of Steinhoff International Holdings NV rose after the South African retail giant said it will restate financial results going back as far as 2015 amid a probe into accounting irregularities. The stock jumped 27 percent to 5.90 rand by 9:56 am in Johannesburg, the most on an intraday basis since December 12, 2017. Shares in Steinhoff, whose retail ...
Read More »