MARKS & SPENCER are set to be revealed as one of the few winners from a challenging festive period for retailers.
The firm is thought to have got its mojo back with strong sales of its partywear and by making its food options more appealing to family shoppers.
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Its recent star-studded adverts, including singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor, above, have helped drive younger shoppers back to the brand.
That is expected to be revealed when it updates the City on its Christmas performance tomorrow.
B&M are also tipped to have done well, with more cash-strapped shoppers switching to cheaper decorations and Christmas presents.
But success stories are expected to be few and far between.
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Figures from the British Retail Consortium show that retail sales rose by just 1.7 per cent in December.
Industry figures say that when higher prices, due to inflation, are stripped out it will mean big chains will have actually sold less stuff in the run-up to Christmas.
While food retailers did better, with grocery sales rising by 6.8 per cent over the three months to December, non-food sales, which include fashion and homewares fell by 1.5 per cent.
Clothing brand Superdry, boot maker Doc Martens and electrical chain CURRYS have already prepared the City for the worst with profit warnings made before Christmas.
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Superdry has suffered due to a mild autumn dampening demand for its winter coats.
Analyst Jonathan Pritchard from Pell Hunt said: “There will be more losers than winners this year. The updates will be an affirmation of poor trading.”
Sainsbury’s and Tesco, which will also report this week, are expected to report bumper sales, helped by food inflation.
The UK’s biggest two supermarket chains roundly beat sales growth at rivals Asda and Morrisons, according to recent figures from Kantar.
Helen Dickinson, boss of the BRC, said 2024 will be “another challenging year for retailers and their customers”.
Paul Martin, head of UK retail at KPMG, added shops face another tough year.
BOEING’S SHARES NOSEDIVE
A BLOWOUT of a plane door mid-flight has left Boeing shares in a tailspin as investors reacted to the dangerous incident on one of its 737 Max planes.
Shocking images were circulated online of the hole in the side of an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 which was carrying 171 passengers on Friday night.
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Boeing was hit by two 737 Max crashes almost five years ago in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
Other issues like supply chain shortages and delivery delays have dogged the company.
US regulators ordered a temporary grounding of some 737 Max 9 planes. Shares in Boeing fell 9 per cent in New York.
Ryanair, which uses Boeing Max planes, clarified that it had no Max 9 planes, and its latest order was for Max 10s.
A spokesman said: “Ryanair does not expect the Max 9 grounding to have any impact on either the Max 8 or the Max 10 aircraft.”
MATALAN PRICE CUT
MATALAN is investing £35million in lowering its fashion prices in the latest sign of inflation easing for hard-pressed Brits.
The fashion and homewares chain is reducing prices by an average 15 per cent as part of an overhaul by its new owners.
Jo Whitfield, the ex-Co-op food boss who was made chief executive last year, said Matalan was “passing on savings” from falling input costs and easing inflation.
PAY METERS NOD
REGULATORS will let three firms force their way into homes to install pre-payment meters — as temperatures are set to drop below freezing,
Ofgem banned the practice last year after an investigation by The Times showed British Gas workers breaking into vulnerable people’s homes. The scandal led to a new code of conduct.
And the regulator now saysScottish Power, Edf and Octopus Energy had met strict new conditions to restart “involuntary pre-payment meter installations”.
SPREAD betting firms Plus 500 and Cmc Markets boosted profit forecasts yesterday.
Trading platforms do well in volatile markets and will benefit in an election year.
Shares in CMC Markets were up over a fifth while Plus 500 closed up 8 per cent.
CRISIS FOR PAPA
PIZZA chain Papa Johns could shut 100 sites amid rising costs in the industry.
It has 524 locations in the UK but told The Sun it was planning “strategic closures of low-performing restaurants”.
Insiders think that could be as many as 100 although no decision has yet been made.
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The company is the UK’s second-largest takeaway pizza brand, behind Dominos.
Hospitality UK has said that a string of restaurant closures has marked the “worse ever start to the year for the industry”.
