Retail round up - The Sunday Papers

Archived article dated Sunday October 26th 2008

Tesco asks its suppliers to wait longer for payment, John Lewis to match High Street prices, Deloitte called in to advise Woolworths

Financial Times Sat / Sun

Tesco is asking all its non-food suppliers to wait an extra 30 days for payment of goods, as Britain's biggest retailer looks for ways to free up millions of pounds as it enters the all-important Christmas trading season. The retailer wrote to all its general merchandise suppliers this month saying it had decided to change its payment terms from 30 to 60 days, effective from December 1, according to a letter seen by the Financial Times. Eamonn O'Hare, finance director, wrote in the letter that the decision was the result of a “detailed review of our non-supplier terms, with the aim of improving consistency, transparency and efficiency across our non-food supply chain”. A Tesco spokesman said: “This is a move to align payment terms for our larger non-food suppliers across the Tesco group which currently vary from country to country and within product categories.

Two goals from Wayne Rooney against Belarus last week cemented the England football team's best-ever start to a World Cup qualifying campaign. But for Sports Direct and JJB Sports, the biggest sellers of the replica shirts, there was none of the usual celebration. The companies were too distracted by a list of problems. Now, in what promises to be a turbulent period for an ever colourful sector, there is a real prospect of a competition inquiry even before the advent of further consolidation in sports retailing.

John Lewis has promised to match any discounting on the high street in the run-up to Christmas, as middle England's favourite department store reported a sharp drop in trade after a “disappointing” week.Andy Street, managing director of the chain, said the impact of the British banking crisis had fed through to customers' mindsets in recent weeks, with underlying sales down 7.6 per cent over the past seven days. “Our like-for-likes for the past 12 weeks are down 4 per cent, for the six months to July-end we were down 1 per cent. “The majority of this decline has come in October, as the financial turmoil began to be reflected in our numbers.”

Sunday Telegraph

Key lenders to Woolworths have drafted in one of the country's leading corporate restructuring firms to advise them amid growing concerns about the future of the pick'n'mix retailer. Burdale Financial, a division of Bank of Ireland, and GMAC Commercial Finance appointed Deloitte last week to represent them in negotiations with Woolworths, ahead of a December deadline to finalise its business plan for the company's next financial year. Deloitte held discussions last week with Woolworths executives and KPMG, which is advising the retail group, about its business plan and budget. Burdale and GMAC agreed a £385m loan last January that is secured against a range of assets, including much of Woolworths' retail stock.

Mail on Sunday

Hundreds of jobs have been cut by two leading retailers as fears grow that thousands of High Street workers are likely to be made redundant. Shop Direct, which owns the Littlewoods catalogue brand,is understood to be consultation with more than 400 staff across its business, while Alliance Boots plans to lose up to 240.

Timpson, which owns 640 shoe repair stores, employing 1,900 people, expects to open 40 new shops next year. Managing Director James Timpson said, “Shoe repairs have been going much better over the last four or five months increasing about six or seven per cent. Last week, we were up nine per cent on shoe repairs”.

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