The Body Shop to close 75 stores across UK and cut hundreds of jobs - The Guardian

The Body Shop is to close 75 stores across the UK in the next six weeks with the loss of 489 jobs, according to administrators who are overseeing the restructuring.

The closures are spread across the country, from Swansea to Glasgow, and mean that nearly 800 people will lose their jobs in total when the 300 redundancies at the head office are taken into account.

However, 116 Body Shop stores will stay open under the changes, which affect only the company’s UK operations, the administration firm FRP said.

Body Shop Denmark has declared bankruptcy, while its division in Belgium, with 16 stores and 50 employees, has reportedly also been declared bankrupt. The Irish business is expected to go into liquidation next week. Before the closures, the brand had about 1,000 company-owned stores worldwide and a further 1,600 franchise branches.

Last week, the administrators at FRP laid out plans to retain more than half of Body Shop stores in the UK as they announced the closure of seven shops. On Thursday, they told staff an additional 75 stores would close over the next four to six weeks.

The retailer, which employs more than 2,200 people in the UK, called in administrators in mid-February, just months after being taken over by the restructuring firm Aurelius in November.

Tony Wright, the joint administrator, said: “In taking swift action to right-size the Body Shop UK store portfolio, we have stabilised the business and are providing the best opportunity for this iconic brand to have a long-term, sustainable future.

“The UK business continues to trade in administration, and we remain fully focused on exploring all options to take the business forward.”

Aurelius is the main creditor, with secured debt that will ensure it gets paid by administrators before most other creditors. One option is that it takes back the chain after the shop closures and job cuts.

Alternatively, the administrators could begin a formal sale process for the remaining stores. The UK fashion retailer Next, which has snapped up a host of brands, from Cath Kidston to Fatface, is thought to be among industry names that are interested.

The Body Shop has had three owners since it was sold by its founder, Anita Roddick, shortly before her death in 2007.

Roddick, who set up the business in Brighton in 1976, campaigned against animal testing of cosmetics and promoted natural products sourced ethically in a way that would support small producers around the world.

She shocked fans of the brand by selling up to L’Oréal in 2006, the cosmetics multinational that owns Maybelline and Garnier, for £652m. The brand was then sold on to the Brazilian natural cosmetics group Natura, which already owned the Australian Aesop beauty brand, for €1bn in 2017. After Natura built up debts in buying the home-selling cosmetics group Avon, it sold off Aesop to L’Oréal and then The Body Shop to Aurelius late last year.

The Body Shop’s popularity has waned in recent years as competition heated up from rivals in the natural beauty market, including Lush and Rituals, and the boom in internet sales has affected bricks and mortar retail.

The group’s Irish, Japanese and some of its mainland European divisions were sold to a group called Alma24 in late January, whose main director has close links to Aurelius. The German division of The Body Shop, which has about 60 stores, was put into insolvency two weeks ago.

The Irish operations, where 50 people work at seven stores, was expected to go into liquidation next week and employees refused to work on Thursday after being told they would not be paid for the last three weeks of their employment, the Irish Examiner reported.

The Body Shop’s Denmark division was declared bankrupt on Wednesday, with 15 stores to close and 90 job losses. Anders Hoffmann Kønigsfeldt, a lawyer at the law firm Bech-Bruun, has been appointed as administrator. There are a few Body Shop stores owned by franchisees that are not affected by the bankruptcy.

Tine Mohr Jensen, a senior retail manager at The Body Shop in Denmark, wrote in a LinkedIn post: “It’s tough to say goodbye to something that has been such a big part of my life for over 12 years. The Body Shop will always be cherished. I hope from the bottom of my heart The Body Shop will stand strong again all over the world.”

The UK stores due to close in the next six weeks

Aylesbury
Banbury
Barnstaple
Basildon
Battersea
Bedford
Beverley
Bexleyheath
Blackburn
Blackpool
Bournemouth Commercial Road
Bolton
Brixton
Broughton Park
Bury
Camberley
Carlisle
Carmarthen
Chippenham
Cirencester
Croydon
Didcot
Durham
East Kilbride
Edinburgh Gyle Centre
Edinburgh Princes Mall
Epsom
Fareham
Farnborough
Glasgow Braehead
Glasgow Fort
Glasgow Silverburn
Glasgow Station
Grimsby
Halifax
Harlow
Hastings
Hempstead Valley
High Wycombe
Huddersfield
Hull
Ilford
Ipswich
Isle of Wight
Islington
Kendal
King’s Lynn
Leeds White Rose
Lewisham Centre
Lichfield
Loughborough
Luton
Macclesfield
Middlesbrough
Morpeth
Newton Abbot
Northampton
Oldham
Perth
Peterborough Queensgate
Portsmouth
Regent Street
Salisbury
Stafford
Stansted Airside
Stratford Upon Avon
Swansea
Telford
Thanet
Trowbridge
Wakefield Trinity Walk
Walthamstow
Wigan
Woking
Wolverhampton

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2024-02-29 20:35:00Z
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Sainsbury's to cut 1,500 jobs as part of £1billion 'cost cutting' plan - The Mirror

Sainsbury’s has announced plans to cut around 1,500 jobs as part of efforts to reduce costs by £1 billion.

Sainsbury’s has announced plans to cut around 1,500 jobs as part of efforts to reduce costs by £1 billion over the next three years.

The supermarket chain said it would cut roles in its contact centre in Widnes, Cheshire, at its in-store bakeries and a few at local fulfilment centres. At Widnes, a "vast majority" of its staff will see their employment move to a different company which Sainsbury's already works with and all of Sainsbury's Careline services will now be run by this external company.

Sainsbury's said its investment in technology and automation also means it needs fewer local fulfilment centres and a "very small proportion" of staff will be impacted. It also plans to move more of its shops "to a more efficient way of freshly baking products". Sainsbury's said the money it saves will be reinvested into the business to give customers "great value, quality and service."

Those affected by the move have all been told of the plans today and will be helped to find new roles "where possible" within Sainsbury's. However, Sainsbury's noted that the layoffs are still "subject to consultation".

In a statement, chief executive Simon Roberts said: "As we move into the next phase of our strategy, we are making some difficult, but necessary decisions. I know today's news is unsettling for affected colleagues and we will do everything we can to support them. As a result, the supermarket will be conducting a consultancy process with bakers in these stores.

"Sainsbury's has reassured affected colleagues that it will find alternative roles for them where possible, as it will for any colleague affected by changes proposed today. The proposals we've been talking to teams about today are important to ensure we're better set up to focus on the things that create a real impact for our customers, delivering good food for all of us and building a platform for growth."

The £1billion cost cutting plan was first detailed in the group's "Next Level Sainsbury's Strategy" report published earlier this month. The strategy involved using more automated tills and warehouse robots. The plan also mentioned introducing AI systems to help its fulfilment centres with restocking. Although the plans did not mention job cuts, Sainsbury's boss did not rule it out when he presented the plan this month.

Sainsbury's employs around 152,000 staff across its 600 UK supermarkets and over 800 convenience stores. Despite the layoffs, the supermarket chain said it was still planning to open more stores across the country this year.

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2024-02-29 15:35:00Z
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Ryanair won't add more Dublin routes due to passenger cap - RTE.ie

Ryanair will not be growing its routes in and out of Dublin this summer because of the passenger cap at the airport, the airline has said today.

The company also warned that the cap is also blocking its plan to grow Irish traffic by 50% between now and 2030.

However, launching its summer schedule, the airline said it is expecting to grow traffic at regional airports Cork, Shannon and Knock over the coming months.

"Dublin Airport is a piece of national infrastructure and we cannot wait four years or longer from planning delays to have the cap lifted," Ryanair group chief executive Michael O'Leary said at a briefing in Dublin this morning.

Dublin Airport is close to its 32 million passengers per year limit and operator daa is currently seeking permission to have the cap lifted to 40 million.

Today the airline once again reiterated its call for the Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan and Tourism Minister Catherine Martin to take urgent action, even on an interim basis, to scrap the cap.

Mr O'Leary said the ministers should either "grow, or go".

The matter is currently before the planning authorities and the Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan has said it is not appropriate for him to intervene, despite strong calls from airlines and business organisations for the cap to be lifted.

Mr O’Leary said without the cap restrictions, it would have placed four more aircraft in Dublin for summer of 2024, creating 12 new routes and growing passenger numbers by 2 million on last year.

Instead, he said, the new aircraft will be placed elsewhere in Europe, with just one new aircraft coming to Ireland this summer, to Cork.

He said if the Government can not intervene by ministerial order then it should pass legislation.

Despite the difficulties in Dublin, the airline said it expects to add 50 new Boeing 737 aircraft and plans to open 80 new routes across Europe.

This will lead to traffic rising by 16 million passengers, from 183.5 million to over 200 million.

Earlier the Aer Lingus chief executive, Lynne Embleton, said the passenger cap at Dublin was a serious issue.

"And this has not been well managed at all," she claimed.

"And it will have serious consequences if it isn't lifted and that would be for the airlines, it would be for jobs and more importantly it is for the economy."

She said an independent study had found that for every 1m passengers that don't get to come into Ireland there is a €1.4bn loss to the economy in direct and indirect value.

She added that because Ireland is an island nation connectivity is really important, and so this needs to be resolved really quickly.

"And if that means a two step planning process where we get a quick interim lift to the passenger cap that may be necessary."

Ms Embleton said for the moment the airline is sticking with its current plans for Dublin but is in dialogue with airport operator daa.

She said the other issue is the need to lift the long-term cap to 40m by 2030, which is something the airline supports.

She said she had seen references to increased carbon emissions and understandably that has become a debating point.

But she said the company's forecasts show Aer Lingus can grow its passenger numbers 20% to 2030, reduce emissions per passenger and total net emissions.

"So the debate we need to be having around growth is good for the economy, and it can be done sensibly and with consideration to the environment," she stated.

Speaking in the southeast today, Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe said he is "very broadly" in favour of more passengers coming through Dublin Airport but added that the daa's application to raise the passenger cap needs to be dealt with through planning.

Asked today if he agrees that the cap makes Dublin Airport uncompetitive, Paschal Donohoe said: "This is currently the subject of a planning process".

"This is being dealt with by Fingal County Council and it wouldn't really be appropriate for me to be involved in a matter that is now being dealt with through our planning process," he said.

"Very broadly I do support more passengers coming through our airport - that's consistent with our national aviation policy. This specific matter of the cap is one that's now being dealt with by our planning process," he added.

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St James's Place shares fall 30% as it takes £426mn provision for client refunds - Financial Times

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1. St James's Place shares fall 30% as it takes £426mn provision for client refunds  Financial Times
2. St James's Place to pay overcharging victims up to £426m as shares collapse  The Telegraph
3. FTSE falls after disappointing news from Reckitt and St James's Place  The Independent
4. St James's Place put in its place by investors as action on fee conduct bites  Sky News
5. FTSE 100 live: Stocks slump on dire results, St James crashes, bitcoin flies  Proactive Investors UK

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2024-02-28 17:10:24Z
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SJP shares crash after it sets aside £426m for advice fee refunds - Citywire New Model Adviser

St James’s Place (SJP) has set aside a £426m provision to refund clients’ ongoing advice fees following a back-book review, forcing the wealth giant to more than halve its dividend.

At 8.30am, SJP’s shares had sunk 30%, to 436.5p per share. 

SJP said in its full-year results this morning that its cash position has been ‘significantly impacted by’ a review exercise which found there was a lack of evidence that clients who pay for ongoing advice were receiving an annual service.

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2024-02-28 11:48:45Z
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Thames Water is lobbying for higher bills and lower fines to avoid bailout, report claims – business live - The Guardian

Last week, the chair of the environment, food and rural affairs select committee, Sir Robert Goodwill, wrote to the Ofwat chief executive David Black to urge him to ensure water companies clean up their act before bills rise.

The committee recommended that any forward programme “must clearly set out how Ofwat will balance its need to regulate with protecting the financial viability of the water companies”.

Stating that many Ofwat investigations into malpractice in the water sector take several years to complete, undermining public trust in the sector, Goodwill also urged the regulator to give details as to how it will complete investigations in a more timely manner.

With regard to household water bills, the letter emphasised the importance of the effects on consumers of proposals to raise water bills in order to finance the essential investment in new infrastructure. The committee noted that this investment has for many years been “neglected in favour of profit and dividends to shareholders”.

Goodwill wrote that

an increase in bills will produce a justifiable perception of unfairness from consumers who are being asked to shoulder the burden of improvements by companies who have consistently and publicly failed on delivering their core obligations.

Returning to our main story, Thames Water, the Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson and MP for Richmond Park, Sarah Olney, said:

This week the government told me they won’t make their contingency plan in the event of Thames Water’s collapse public.

This is a cover up.

Customers and taxpayers deserve to know what ministers plan to do if this disastrous situation happens.

The bike and car parts retailer Halfords has warned of a sharp fall in profits, blaming “unusually mild and very wet weather” for lower footfall, and reduced sales of winter tyres and car cleaning products.

It said the cycling market has become more challenging and competitive, with more promotions, and more customers buying on credit, leading to weaker profit margins.

Its shared were hammered after the profit warning, plummeting nearly 24%.

Halfords now expects profits before tax to fall to £35m to £40m, a downgrade of at least 17%, for the year to the end of March. It assumes the market will stay tough for the rest of its fourth quarter, including the peak Easter cycling period in March. In January, the firm had estimated profits of between £48m and £53m.

Here is our full story on Tata’s new £4bn gigafactory in Bridgend, which will bring about 4,000 jobs to the region.

Taylor Wimpey, one of Britain’s biggest housebuilders, said it will build fewer homes this year as the housing market remains fairly weak, as it posted a 49% slump in annual profits.

The company said the market stabilised at the start of this year as mortgage rates eased, but a delay in the first interest rate cut and concerns over the economy have tempered hopes of a quick recovery.

Jennie Daly, the chief executive, said:

It is still early in the year and the macroeconomic backdrop remains uncertain, however it is encouraging to see some signs of improvement in the market, with reduced mortgage rates positively impacting affordability and customer confidence.

Revenues fell 20.5% to £3.5bn last year, while profit before tax and one-off items almost halved to £473.8m.

Taylor Wimpey completed 10,848 homes last year, versus 14,154 in 2022. Average selling prices on private homes rose 5.1 to £370,000. It expects to build between 9,500 and 10,000 homes this year.

The firm said it welcomed the Competition and Market Authority’s final report, published on Monday, from its housebuilding market study “with its focus on improving the planning system, adoption of amenities and outcomes for house buyers”. Taylor Wimpey said it would “cooperate fully” with the regulator’s new investigation.

The CMA opened an investigation into eight housebuilders, including Taylor Wimpey, after it found evidence they may be sharing commercially sensitive information that could affect the price of homes, such as sales prices and details of incentives for buyers.

The report concluded that it had “fundamental concerns” over the housebuilding market, pointing to the complex planning system and the limitations of speculative private development as the key reasons for the too few homes being built.

The government set a target of building 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s in its 2019 manifesto but only 250,000 were built last year, with many in the sector warning that this is likely to shrink considerably this year.

The CMA found that profits of the 11 largest housebuilders were “generally higher than we would expect for a well-functioning market”. However, it also warned that any measures introduced to tackle profitability in the sector would reduce the number of homes being built and exacerbate supply problems.

The report was also critical of the quality of homes built by some developers.

The luxury carmaker Aston Martin said its annual loss narrowed more than expected because it raised its prices to record levels.

It launched the DB12, an open-top model, last year, with prices starting at $248,086.

The company reported an adjusted pre-tax loss of £171.8m for 2023, compared with £451m the year before. Analysts had forecast a loss of £209m.

Aston Martin said it was on track to hit its longstanding target of a 40% gross profit margin this year.

In other corporate news, mobile phone giant Vodafone has confirmed it is in exclusive talks to sell its Italian business to Switzerland’s Swisscom in a deal worth €8bn (£6.8bn).

The company said:

Vodafone has engaged extensively with several parties to explore market consolidation in Italy and believes this potential transaction delivers the best combination of value creation, upfront cash proceeds and transaction certainty for Vodafone shareholders.

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling of business, the financial markets, and the world economy.

Thames Water is lobbying the government and industry regulator Ofwat to let it increase household bills, pay dividends to shareholders and receive lower fines as it seeks to stave off a potential multibillion-pound taxpayer bailout, the Financial Times reported.

Britain’s largest water company is desperately trying to avoid being taken over under the government’s special administration regime.

Last week the government passed updated water insolvency legislation, suggesting the company could be moving closer to a collapse. Officials at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have drawn up contingency plans for the company’s failure, worried that about the consequences if the company collapsed, as it supplies water and sewage services to a quarter of England’s population. The FT said the secret plan to save the firm is called “Project Timber”.

Ministers hope that Ofwat will allow “regulatory easements” such as reduced fines to reduce the financial pressure on the company, the paper reported.

The current situation was described by one insider as “like a flooded room with only an inch of air at the top”. He added: “The shareholders would be irrational to put any equity in if they don’t win concessions.”

Europe’s largest electrical vehicle battery factory will be built in Bridgewater, Somerset, its Indian owner Tata Group has confirmed.

Construction is to begin immediately, and the factory is expected to start producing batteries in 2026. Tata decided to locate the 4bn facility, which is backed by £500m of government funding, at the 620-acre Gravity Smart Campus. It is the site of a former Royal Ordnance factory that made bombs during World War Two.

The factory will make batteries for Tata Motors and JLR, formerly Jaguar Land Rover, before later expanding to produce cells for commercial vehicles, two-wheelers and energy storage solutions.

Asian shares have lost ground ahead of a barrage of US data on GDP and inflation later. Japan’s Nikkei has slipped 0.08%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has lost 1.4% and the Shanghai Composite dropped 1.9%.

Financial markets are now expecting the first interest rate cut from the US Federal Reserve in June, rather than March as anticipated at the start of the year. Traders have pencilled in 77 basis points of cuts against pricing in 150 bps at the start of the year.

The Agenda

• 10am GMT: Eurozone consumer confidence final for February

• 1.30pm GMT: US GDP second estimate and PCE price index for Q4 (forecast: 3.3%)

• 3.30pm GMT: Bank of England policymaker Catherine Mann speech

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2024-02-28 07:41:00Z
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Taylor Wimpey warns of more planning turmoil as profits halve - latest updates - The Telegraph

Taylor Wimpey has warned about the impact of planning delays as it revealed pre-tax profits nearly halved last year.

The developer said revenues dropped 20.5pc to £3.5bn in 2023, while profits before tax dropped 47.8pc to £473.8m as buyers grappled with higher mortgage costs.

Shares fell 3.6pc in early trading as it revealed it completed 3,306 fewer homes last year, down 23pc to 10,848, as chief executive Jennie Daly said the “planning environment remains challenging”.

The company highlighted “delays and resource pressures impacting housing land supply”.

It comes as the competition watchdog found this week that planning systems across Britain were “unpredictable”, with many local authorities under-resourced and several without an up to date local plan for housing. 

Taylor Wimpey was also named as one of eight of Britain’s biggest housebuilders that are under investigation for suspected illegal information sharing amid fears that collusion in the industry has pushed up prices.

The developer’s shares had gained 24pc over the last six months amid hopes that the Bank of England was poised to begin cutting interest rates this year. 

Read the latest updates below.

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