The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Mixed fortunes for retailers Next and Dixons
Retailer Dixons Carphone has seen shares surge ahead after revealing booming online trading has recovered around two-thirds of store sales lost amid the coronavirus lockdown.
The group said UK and Ireland online sales soared 166% in the five weeks to April 25 as customers rushed to buy laptops and home-working equipment, as well as gaming and televisions for the lockdown.
Overall UK and Ireland electricals sales tumbled 16% as it was forced to shut stores.
But shares jumped as much as 16% as it revealed that the online operation is helping recoup lost store sales, despite scrapping its full-year shareholder dividend payout due to the crisis.
Dixons revealed its stores that have been closed across the UK, Ireland and Greece would normally have delivered around £400 million of sales in the year, but this has been partially offset as its online operation has “maintained our unambiguous price promise, continued investment in delivery and carried on growing our range for customers”.
Meanwhile, fashion retailer Next said the impact of the coronavirus lockdown on trading has been “faster and steeper” than expected and warned that sales will remain under pressure throughout 2020.
The chain – which reopened for online trading on April 14 – reported a 41% plunge in fullprice sales over its first quarter to April 25, with high street sales crashing 52% and online sales down 32%.
It said it now believes fullyear sales could fall by as much as 40%, with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic expected to leave sales lower in every quarter, even after lockdown restrictions are lifted.
Sales are expected to tumble by as much as 62% over its second quarter and could still be 28% lower over the fourth quarter to next January in the worst-case scenario.
Figures announced yesterday showed Scotland’s retail sales contracted by 1.1% in the first quarter of 2020.
David Lonsdale, director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said: “These figures lay bare how difficult things were for the Scottish retail industry even ahead of the onslaught of the coronavirus crisis.”