FT 500 2013 - Financial Times. Littlewoods shops sold for £409m. Littlewoods has sold all of its 119 shops across the UK to Associated British Foods (ABF) for £409m ($712m).
ABF said it planned to keep around 40 stores to expand its Primark fashion retail business and sell the rest. The firm said it hoped to find jobs in Primark for many of the 2,500 staff working in the Littlewoods stores. Liverpool-based Littlewoods will concentrate on its catalogue and online businesses, which have annual sales of about £2bn. 'Never be as dominant' "Our stores business has less than a 1% market share and it could never be as dominant as our home shopping business," David Simons, chairman of Littlewoods Shop Direct Group, told the Reuters news agency.
Littlewoods is owned by twin-brother entrepreneurs David and Frederick Barclay. ABF, which Twinings tea and Silver Spoon sugar, said the deal with Littlewoods was a 'unique' chance to buy a number of large stores in prime High Street locations. Buyers. Adams shuts down 111 of its shops. Adams Childrenswear has announced that it has closed down 111 of its stores throughout the UK, five days after calling in the administrators.
The retailer said that its remaining 160 shops would stay open as the administrators try to sell the company. As a result of the closures, 850 members of staff have been made redundant with immediate effect. UK unemployment rate drops to 7.1% 22 January 2014Last updated at 12:29 ET Ed Miliband clashes with David Cameron over the economy at Prime Minister's Questions.
The UK unemployment rate has dropped to 7.1%, close to the point at which the Bank of England has said it will consider raising interest rates. The number of people out of work fell by 167,000 to 2.32 million in the three months to November, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. The ONS also said the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance fell by 24,000 to 1.25 million in December.
The importance of fashion to the UK economy. With the arrival of London’s fashion week the world’s gaze is centered upon the UK, but just how important is the fashion industry to our economy?
The substantial growth of the UK fashion industry over the last five years has been staggering – the direct value of the industry to the UK economy is now estimated at £26 billion. This figure is up from £21 billion in 2009 and shows an impressive increase of 22 per cent (in nominal terms). Economy tracker: Unemployment. 19 March 2014Last updated at 06:42 ET Continue reading the main story Latest news: The number of people out of work fell by 63,000 to 2.33 million in the three months to January, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The unemployment rate of the economically active population is 7.2%, and the number of people in work is 30.19 million. The claimant count - the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance - fell by 34,000 to 1.17 million in February. Understanding unemployment: A person is classed as unemployed if not only out of work, but also actively looking for work and available to start work within a fortnight Unemployment figures are based on a survey carried out by the Office for National Statistics. Unemployment is referred to as a lagging indicator, because businesses will often delay laying people off as long as they can in difficult times.
UK's creative industries beat employment downturn. 15 January 2014Last updated at 08:03 ET The UK's creative exports and attractions have contributed to buoyant figures Jobs in film, television, music and software have grown by 8.6% in recent years and bucked the trend for minimal expansion, new figures have shown.
Expansion in the creative industries outstripped the UK economy as a whole in 2011-12, where the figure was 0.7%. It is the UK's fastest-growing sector, worth £71.4bn a year and making up 5.6% of the workforce, the Department for Media, Culture and Sport said. The sector is an "economic powerhouse", said Culture Secretary Maria Miller. She added that the creative industries "consistently punch well above their weight" in outperforming larger and more prominent areas, such as financial services. UK fashion industry value 2009 and 2014. Statistic download in PNG, XLS and PPT format?
Get a free account in less than 60 seconds. ? <div class="alert alert-error"><b>JavaScript is deactivated</b><br />Our statistics rely on JavaScript to be viewed. Please activate JavaScript in your browser to view this chart or download the statistic as PNG, PPT or XLS file. </div> Showing entries 1 to 2 (2 entries in total) Reading support. LFW: Fashion industry worth 26 billion pound to UK economy. London Fashion Week is in full swing and the British Fashion Council has published updating figures showing substantial growth in the UK fashion industry over the past five years.
At a press conference to open LFW’s Autumn/Winter 2014 showcase, the BFC claimed that the fashion industry’s contribution to the UK stands at 26 billion pounds, up from 21 billion pounds in 2009. Announced by Natalie Massenet, chairman of the British Fashion Council, this increase is a staggering 21 percent in nominal terms, according to figures from the Oxford Economics 2014 report.
This figure incorporates not only the direct impact of wholesale, retail and manufacturing on the economy, but also its effect on other industries including tourism and financial services. The research also shows that the fashion industry is estimated to support 797,000 jobs, a decrease of 2.3 percent from the report published four years ago. FASHION BFC-The-Value-of-The-Fashion-Industry.pdf.
UK value clothing expenditure to rise 4.4% in 2014. Facts and Figures in the UK fashion industry - statistics about the fashion business in England - size of economic activities. Archive: Fashion industry statistics United Kingdom 14 February 2014.
London Fashion Week: Fashion industry worth £26 billion to UK economy. New figures published by the British Fashion Council on the first day of London Fashion Week value the fashion industry's contribution to the UK economy at £26 billion BY Ellie Pithers | 14 February 2014.
UK retail sales fall in September on weak clothes demand. 23 October 2014Last updated at 05:58 ET UK retail sales fell in September, adding to signs that the economic recovery may be losing steam. The Office for National Statistics said sales volumes fell 0.3% on the month, more than expected and the weakest figure since January. Mild weather in September put shoppers off buying winter clothes, but sales were weaker in other sectors too. Slow wage growth, falling house prices, and global economic worries have raised concerns about the UK recovery.
Last week, the Chancellor, George Osborne, warned that the UK will not escape a slowdown in the eurozone economy. Year on year, retail sales are up by 2.7%. Many economists had predicted September's retail sales to fall 0.1% month-on-month, with a gain of 2.8% for the year. The ONS said clothing and footwear sales fell by 7.8% in September from August, their biggest monthly fall since April 2012. 'No cause for alarm' UK supermarket spending stalls. 224369. Retail Sales, September 2014. Retail Sales, September 2014. Retail Sales, September 2014. UK retail sales growth hits a 10 year high in April. Overview of the retail sector in the UK. Providing jobs for three million people, the retail sector is the UK's largest private employer. Find out about the main organisations and what areas of work you can enter... What areas of retail can I work in? Employment opportunities in the retail sector can be found in: buying; customer services; loss prevention and security; merchandising and allocation; store management; visual merchandising; warehouse, distribution, logistics and supply chain.
You could choose to work within a specific area such as: fashion; books; jewellery; music; sport; online; an opticians; or supermarket retailing. There are also opportunities in the finance, human resources, marketing and IT departments of retail companies. UK retail industry: international action plan. 1. Overview. Retail Industry Analysis 2014 - Cost & Trends.