Retail

  Bloomberg Russian consumer numbers don’t add up. A record slide in retail sales for 18 months has been immune to gains in employment and wages, improving confidence and inflation at less than half last year’s level. Widening wealth disparity may be the key to the unprecedented collapse in demand, according to Alfa Bank and VTB Capital. “We attribute the …

  Bloomberg Carrefour SA, France’s largest retailer, reported higher first-half earnings and maintained its full-year outlook as European revenue held up despite bad weather. Recurring operating income rose 5.3 percent at constant exchange rates to 706 million euros ($781 million), the eighth straight increase, Boulogne-Billancourt-based Carrefour said on Thursday in a statement. Analysts predicted 683.5 million euros, the average of …

  Bloomberg The recent calm in global markets owes a lot to the U.S. consumer, with payroll gains and rising retail sales helping to buoy the world’s largest economy in June. Yet there’s one big weak spot: slowing car sales, and it’s not clear which market segment will pick up this slack. Crucially, demand for cars has propped up the …

  Bloomberg Flipkart Ltd. will buy Rocket Internet SE-backed online retailer Jabong for $70 million in cash to create India’s biggest fashion e-commerce business. Global Fashion Group, the parent of Jabong that’s backed by Rocket and Kinnevik AB, agreed to sell the business to focus on other markets, it said in an e-mailed statement. Flipkart will combine the business with …

  Bloomberg Italy’s state-run air traffic controller Enav SpA climbed as much as 12 percent in its Milan trading debut after the first large, European listing since Brexit. Enav’s government owners had priced shares in an initial public offering at 3.3 euros apiece, near the top end of an offered price range, to raise 759 million euros ($835 million). The …

  Bloomberg According to one analyst, not even the Pokemon Go craze can save the restaurant industry. During much of the recovery from the financial crisis, restaurant spending has been a retail highlight as other areas, like department stores, have struggled. According to Stifel Financial Corp. analyst Paul Westra, however, recent surveys point to the start of a serious decline. …

  HAGUE / AFP Dutch retail giant Ahold and Belgian rival Delhaize have announced that they have finalised their mega-merger after US regulatory authorities gave the union the green light. Both groups said they had inked an agreement to take effect from 2201 GMT after the Federal Trade Commission gave its assent. The FTC had earlier said the sale of …

  Bloomberg US back-to-school spending will grow 11 percent this year, a sign that families are more confident about the economy and ready to stock up on supplies, according to a survey from the National Retail Federation. Families with children ranging from kindergarten through 12th grade will shell out about $673.57 this year, the Washington-based trade organiation said in a …

  Bloomberg The day millennial retailer Urban Outfitters announced it was buying Philadelphia’s Vetri Family group of restaurants, including Pizzeria Vetri, to complement its clothing stores, its stock fell as much as 10 percent. Wall Street analysts couldn’t get their heads around why Urban Outfitters would incorporate restaurants into its brand. Marc Vetri, CEO Vetri Family of Restaurants, reveals how …

  NEW YORK / AP Attacks such as the one in a Munich shopping mall and at a nearby McDonald’s on Friday may lead mall owners to increase their security or even persuade global brands to focus expansion plans on the US rather than Europe. Retail industry experts also said that at this point big iconic brands don’t appear to …