South Africa's Pep owner Pepkor reports 12.4% earnings rise
The owner of PEP and Ackermans clothing brands said headline earnings per share (HEPS) from continuing operations rose to 84.3 cents in the six months to March 31, up from 75 cents a year ago. Normalised HEPS grew by 18.9%.
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The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Huge closing down sale for prestigious jewellers shutting after 165 years
IT's the end of an era for one of Scarborough's most prestigious stores, which is set to shut after 165 years. Bright & Sons jewellers on St Nicholas Street has been a Scarborough fixture for generations. 3 Families have passed through its Victorian doors to mark engagements, weddings, anniversaries and christenings. But after struggling with tough trading conditions and refusing to compromise on quality and service, the jeweller will close its doors for good at the end of October. A huge closing-down sale has now begun, with stock including new and antique jewellery, watches, rings, necklaces and keepsakes available at reduced prices. Shoppers can also find selected pieces online, with the sale offering a last chance to pick up a bargain while saying farewell to a store that has been part of Scarborough life for more than a century. Bright & Sons has a proud history stretching back to 1859, when founders Frederick and Herbert Bright moved from Sheffield to open the business. The link with Sheffield remained strong when the store joined forces with jewellers H. L. Brown in 1957. 'It is very much a sad goodbye,' said Kerri Amos, at parent company H. L. Brown in Sheffield. 'We know the community in Scarborough will feel it and all of us here in Sheffield are feeling it too.' Over the years, Bright & Sons has been known for its personal service and high-quality pieces, with many of its staff staying for decades. Store Closures Sweep Across the US – How Will It Impact Your Shopping Experience One of its most famous commissions came in 1897, when the jewellers created a ceremonial chain for the Mayoress of Scarborough to mark Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Director of H. L. Brown, Richard Pool, based at Barbara Cattle jewellers in York, said customers would be given a warm welcome there after the Scarborough shop closes. Many loyal shoppers already make the trip to York, keeping the historic link alive. The closure follows a string of well-known names disappearing from the high street. In Grimsby, G Hewitt & Son jewellers shut earlier this year after 154 years, launching a huge farewell sale before finally closing its doors. Budget giant Poundland has also been shutting shops at pace, with 68 stores set to go by mid-October. Several Birmingham branches have already gone, including Kings Heath, Sheldon and Erdington, with bargain hunters offered up to 75 per cent off stock before shutters came down. Wilko collapsed last year, forcing hundreds of stores to close, while chains like M&Co and Paperchase also vanished from town centres across the country. Boots has announced plans to shut 300 shops, Iceland has been closing branches, and even fashion favourite Topshop disappeared after being bought out by ASOS. House of Fraser has shrunk its empire year after year, Debenhams vanished from the high street in 2021, and Marks & Spencer has confirmed more closures as it reshapes its business. RETAIL PAIN IN 2025 The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs will cost the retail sector £2.3billion. Research by the British Chambers of Commerce shows that more than half of companies plan to raise prices by early April. A survey of more than 4,800 firms found that 55% expect prices to increase in the next three months, up from 39% in a similar poll conducted in the latter half of 2024. Three-quarters of companies cited the cost of employing people as their primary financial pressure. The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year. It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year. Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: "The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025." Professor Bamfield has also warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector. "By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer's household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020." 3
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
Ross Stores tops quarterly profit estimates as shoppers seek discount apparel
Aug 21 (Reuters) - Ross Stores (ROST.O), opens new tab on Thursday topped quarterly profit estimates and reinstated its annual earnings forecast, betting on demand for discounted apparel and accessories as tariffs raise retail prices during the holiday season. The company's shares were up about 2% in extended trading after it also forecast strong holiday quarter profit. Discount stores are expected to attract budget-conscious customers as President Donald Trump's tariffs force companies to raise prices on products sourced from countries hit with steep duties. Ross Stores' comparable sales rose 2% in the second quarter, with improvement through the period, and strong demand in July, as shoppers looked for discounted back-to-school apparel and accessories. Excluding items, the company reported a profit of $1.56 per share for the three months ended August 2, topping estimates by 2 cents, according to data compiled by LSEG. It reinstated its outlook and expects annual earnings per share of $6.08 to $6.21, compared to estimates of $6.10. This includes a per-share tariff impact of 22 cents to 25 cents. Ross Stores withdrew its annual forecasts in May amid tariff uncertainty, and added that more than half of its goods it sells originate from China. The company said it was adjusting prices strategically, and diversifying sourcing to cushion the tariff impact. Ross Stores expects third-quarter profit of $1.31 to $1.37 per share, below estimates of $1.47, but it targets a profit of $1.74 to $1.81 per share for the key holiday quarter, which was above estimates of $1.69. "We are looking at the back half of the year with cautious optimism ... there's a lot going on in the macro environment," Conroy said. Rival and TJ Maxx parent TJX (TJX.N), opens new tab raised its annual profit target earlier this week, helped by strong demand for discounted apparel and home furnishings. Ross Stores targets comparable store sales growth of 2% to 3% for the third and fourth quarters. Analysts had expected growth of 2.59% and 2.14%, respectively. Second-quarter sales of $5.53 billion fell short of estimates of $5.57 billion.
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Walmart sees customers flocking to its stores to find deals amid high prices and tariff fears
Price increases driven by President Donald Trump's tariffs are sending more shoppers to Walmart as they search for more affordable home goods and groceries. Walmart said it was absorbing enough of the costs brought on by Trump's tariffs to keep price increases at the store lower than the national average, according to the Wall Street Journal. The mega-retailer said its strategy for pulling in shoppers includes offering grocery discounts, fast shipping on delivery orders, and by increasing the quality of its fashion offerings. Despite shoppers reportedly flocking to Walmart, the company still fell short of its earnings target in its latest quarter, according to the report. The company said that increased costs, plus payouts for worker and customer injury claims, cut into its bottom line. On Thursday, Walmart reported a charge of $450 million related to settlements for worker and shopper injury claims. Executives said that the number of claims is not increasing, but settling the claims is getting more expensive. 'Our profit performance wasn't what we wanted this quarter,' Walmart's Chief Executive Doug McMillon said in a social media video for employees on Thursday. 'As always, we should all stay focused on safety, whether that's preventing slips and falls, by keeping our aisle clear or making sure our equipment is used properly.' Walmart executives also warned that the low prices it can offer now won't likely be around for long. As the company purchases more inventory at higher tariff prices, the costs will continue to tick up. Those costs will, at some point, have to be offloaded onto customers. 'We're going to continue to try to navigate this on an item-by-item, category-by-category way to minimize the impact on the consumer,' the company's Chief Financial Officer, John David Rainey, said in an interview with the Journal. The company's strategy to avoid high tariff prices has been to place early orders on products it believes will sell well, according to Rainey. It's also cutting back on higher-priced items that carry higher tariff costs, anticipating that shoppers will be less likely to buy them. The retailer's shares dropped more than 4 percent Thursday, but were still up by nearly 30 percent over the same period last year. McMillon noted that shoppers have, for the past few years, been reining in spending, and he anticipated that the tariffs affect on prices would only exacerbate that trend. Approximately a third of Walmart's stock comes from overseas suppliers. That has forced the company to increase its prices by approximately 10 percent on its imports and then absorbing the rest of the cost for its foreign goods, according to Rainey. Overall, the company's U.S. comparable sales — a number derived from its in-store and digital sales combined — has increased by 4.6 percent in the three-month period ending August 1. Almost a third of U.S. businesses said in a recent survey that they will likely raise prices by the end of 2025 as they adjust to increasing costs and inflation, according to a new report. The online lending marketplace LendingTree reports that more than 30 percent of businesses included in the survey expect their prices to increase within the next six months. Approximately five percent said their prices would decrease, and 65 percent estimated their prices would remain the same. LendingTree chief consumer finance analyst Matt Schulz said in a press release: 'Tariffs are likely playing a significant role in these concerns, but so is the overall sense of uncertainty that remains in the American economy.' Trump initially announced his tariffs on 'Liberation Day' in April before putting the plan on pause after the stock market plummeted and the Treasury bond market spiked. After setting an August deadline for the tariffs to formally begin, Trump announced on August 11 that there would be another 90-day pause on tariffs against China as negotiations continue.
