Marks & Spencer Share News (MKS)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The key Christmas trading season was not as bad as expected for UK food retailers, while for general and clothing retailers, there have been more mixed fortunes.

With holiday sales reporting nearly complete, the FTSE 350 Food and Drug Retailers index is the best-performing sector index so far in 2015, up 8.1%, but the General Retailers index is down 2.4%.

Some clothing retailers struggled to make up lost ground from weak autumn sales as unusually warm weather in the UK and northern Europe kept consumers away from shops full of winter clothes, while others delivered record sales over the Christmas trading period which started on "Black Friday". Price discounting on "Black Friday", the day after the US Thanksgiving Day holiday, was introduced into the UK by US retailing giants such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc's Asda and has forced domestic retailers to follow suit, particularly for electronics.

It's another marked change in shopping trends for UK consumers.

Superdry clothing brand owner SuperGroup PLC surprised investors with an upbeat Christmas trading update Wednesday, a few weeks ahead of schedule, reporting like-for-like sales growth of more than 12% for the 11 weeks to January 10, and a rise in total retail sales just short of 18%.

The retailer, which has had a tough few months, and went into December with a lot of excess stock following a weaker sales performance during the "extremely mild" autumn months, said it saw a "strong performance" over the peak Christmas trading period. It also announced that it is comfortable with delivering a profit for the full year in the region of GBP60 million to GBP65 million.

On Tuesday, Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC was the last of the "big four" to update the market on trading over Christmas, revealing a 3.1% fall in like-for-like sales excluding fuel over the six weeks to January 4, a performance that was better than recent quarters. However, it still meant that Morrisons was the weakest of the UK's big-four grocers.

The supermarket chain also announced that Morrisons Chief Executive Dalton Philips will step down in March after five years at the helm, as the struggling grocer continues to try to return to growth.

"A business like this needs trading momentum to perform, and we think it is time to restore that...time for a fresh pair of eyes," said Chairman Elect Andrew Higginson, former finance director of supermarket rival Tesco PLC.

Meanwhile the latest data from Kantar Worldpanel on Tuesday suggested the UK's big listed grocers have slowed the rate at which shoppers are defecting to German discounters Aldi and Lidl. The big four grocers - Tesco, Asda, J Sainsbury PLC and Morrisons - again saw a decline in till roll over the 12 weeks to January 4, but the decline was slower than in previous months, while the gains being made by Aldi and Lidl also slowed, the Kantar data showed.

Tesco's plans to turnaround its ailing business were well-received last week, after new Chief Executive Dave Lewis announced plans to cut UK central overheads by around 30%, reduce capital expenditure to GBP1 billion, and shut 43 unprofitable stores, alongside halting the development of 49 planned store openings. It also said it will not pay a final dividend for the current financial year.

Tesco, the UK's biggest retailer, revealed that its UK like-for-like sales were down 0.3% in the six weeks to January 3, and down 2.9% excluding fuel for the 19-week period ending on the same date. Sainsbury's, the third-biggest grocer by market share, also last week said like-for-like sales were down 1.7% excluding fuel for the 14 weeks to January 3.

Ocado Group PLC saw its shares dip Wednesday even though the online-only grocer announced growth of 14.8% for gross retail sales in December. It said its "solid" growth performance from the fourth quarter continued into the run up to Christmas, with sales on its biggest day leading up to Christmas of nearly GBP6 million, up 15% year-on-year.

Also on Wednesday, British luxury fashion retailer Burberry Group PLC revealed trading figures for its third quarter to end-December, posting a 14% rise year-on-year in retail sales, with the Americas one of its main growth drivers. However it said weaker sales in Hong Kong held back growth in the period.

Comparable sales, which takes out the effect of new store openings, were up 8% in the quarter on the year before, which is a slowdown from growth of 12% in the first half of the year, but slightly better than analysts were expecting, which was for growth of around 7% for the quarter.

Burberry said it saw double-digit growth in the Americas and Europe, Middle East, India and Africa and India regions, yet only low-single digit growth in Asia due to weaker sales in Hong Kong, a high-margin market for the company. It said sales were hit by "disruptions in Hong Kong" caused by the so-called "Umbrella Revolution" political protests in the former British colony now part of China.

Amongst the general retailers, Debenhams PLC reported on Tuesday good sales growth for the key Christmas trading period, but its shares fell sharply as its like-for-like sales figures for the longer 19-week period missed analyst expectations, closing as one of the worst performing stock on the FTSE 250 on Tuesday.

Debenhams said it had been less reliant on discounting to pull shoppers into its stores over Christmas, although it warned that margin growth had been capped as sales of low-margin products were particularly strong. It said like-for-like sales in the four weeks to January 10 rose 4.9% on the year, driven by online. However the retailer performed less well in the 19 weeks to January 10, as, like its peers, it said clothing sales were hit by the warm autumn weather. Like-for-like sales actually declined 0.8%, far below analyst expectations, which were expecting just short of 1% growth.

Going in the opposite direction on Tuesday, shares of ASOS PLC rose after the online fashion retailer said sales growth accelerated over Christmas reporting a 15% rise in retail sales for the six-weeks to January 9, as UK sales held up strongly, rising 27%. International sales were up only 5%, but that was a return to growth.

The figures suggest that sales growth accelerated in the six-week period, after ASOS revealed last month that total retail sales grew by 8% for the three months to end-November, driven by a 24% increase in UK retail sales but offset by a 2% decline in international sales.

As previously guided, ASOS said its retail gross margin continues to take a hit from price investments, down around 200 basis points on the prior year.

Shares in video game retailer GAME Digital PLC were still suffering Wednesday from its profit warning late Tuesday, after it said its full-year earnings will be flat, and highlighted a "highly competitive" Christmas trading period.

GAME Digital said that whilst it saw hardware volume sales up 25% over the Christmas trading period, the eleven weeks to January 10, group sales fell 5.4% at constant currency due to lower selling prices and margins.

Last week, department store operators House of Fraser and John Lewis, and clothing retailer Ted Baker PLC, also emerged as clear winners of the key UK Christmas trading season, joining Next PLC, which had gotten the holiday trading updates underway with a positive statement before New Year's Eve. Marks and Spencer Group PLC sat firmly on the losers list, having revealed a disappointing trading performance right across the board, and online fashion retailer Boohoo.com PLC issued a profit warning due to weaker sales and heavy discounting during the warm autumn.

Echoing John Lewis, unlisted House of Fraser said it delivered "record" sales over the Christmas trading period, driven by strong sales growth online and a stellar Black Friday. John Lewis said Black Friday was larger than the Christmas week as sales pulled forward. It said sales fell off for several weeks before picking up again in the immediate run-up to Christmas.

"This year confirmed the new shape of trade for Christmas, with an early peak at the end of November driven by Black Friday and last minute gift buying," said John Lewis Managing Director Andy Street, urging clothing and general merchandise retailers to avoid the early discounting.

On Thursday, mother and baby products retailer Mothercare PLC, Home Retail Group PLC and Associated British Foods PLC's Primark clothing chain will be on the watch list for their holiday updates.

Next week electronics retailer Dixons Carphone PLC, consumer goods giant Unilever PLC, and brewer SABMiller PLC will provide their trading statements.

By Rowena Harris-Doughty; rowenaharrisdoughty@alliancenews.com; @rharrisdoughty

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