Retail Week looks ahead to the next seven days, with Asda’s and Mothercare’s latest quarterly updates and Richard Pennycook’s start date at Fenwick all on the agenda.
Mothercare
The nursery specialist will update the market with its preliminary results on Thursday May 18.
The retailer, which is in the midst of a global turnaround, reported rising UK like-for-likes in its fourth quarter, and boss Mark Newton-Jones was able to report improved conditions in many of its previously challenging international markets over the same period, with China and Russia in growth.
The Middle East remains a tough spot for Mothercare, however, as it does for many retailers, and it will be intriguing to see whether the specialist retailer has managed to mitigate the impact of a suffering economy.
Asda
The big four grocer will reveal its first-quarter results on Thursday May 18.
Boss Sean Clarke will be keen not to repeat the performance of previous quarters, which featured plummeting like-for-likes.
While Asda is the worst-performing member of the big four by some distance, it is beginning to see the beginnings of a slow recovery. Its decline has lessened lately, with like-for-likes flat according to the latest Kantar figures.
Fenwick
Former Co-op boss Richard Pennycook begins a very different chapter on Thursday May 18, taking up the chairman role at department store group Fenwick.
He will be the first chairman from outside the Fenwick family and, while he takes on the mantle of a prestigious and historic business, is likely to be taking a look at the department store chain’s own-label offering and lack of an online channel, both of which the group is understood to be assessing.
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