Good morning, it's Paul here.

I got up early today, to finish off yesterday's article (was too tired last night to do any more work). So I've added new sections on ShoeZone results, and Focusrite's trading update. So to get you started today, here is the link for yesterday's expanded report.

It's an absolute avalanche of trading updates today, here are some quick bullet points on mid to large cap retailers, which might be of interest, for read-across to smaller companies, and the economy generally (we need to keep our eye on the macro picture);


Tesco (LON:TSCO)

  • Seems to be trading well.
  • Positive Q3 LFL sales of +2.3% on a LFL basis.
  • Positive Xmas trading, +3.4% LFL in food
  • Problems at Palmer & Harvey, and "ongoing drag" from general merchandise - "took the shine off an otherwise outstanding performance"
  • We are confident in the outlook for the full year and are firmly on track to deliver our medium-term ambitions."


Marks and Spencer (LON:MKS)

Q3 update, for 13 weeks to 30 Dec 2017

  • Full year guidance remains unchanged
  • Total UK LFL sales down -1.4%
  • Food better (-0.4% LFL) than clothing & home (-2.8% LFL)
  • eCommerce growth only +3.0%
  •  "M&S had a mixed quarter with better Christmas trading in both businesses going some way to offset a weak clothing market in October and ongoing underperformance in our Food like-for-like sales...


John Lewis

Update for 6 weeks ending 30 Dec 2017

  • Waitrose LFL sales up 2.2% (adjusted for New Year's Eve mismatch)
  • John Lewis LFL sales up 3.1%
  • Black Friday went well, so looks like a permanent fixture in the retail calendar now.
  • "The pressure on margin seen in the first half of the year has intensified because of our choice to maintain competitive prices, despite higher costs mainly due to the weaker exchange rate. This will negatively affect full-year financial results as indicated previously."
  • "Looking ahead to 2018/19 we expect trading to be volatile due to the economic environment and anticipate that competitive intensity will continue, driven by the structural changes taking place in the retail industry. "

So, sounds like many retailers will continue to struggle in 2018. Good news for consumers though.


Boohoo.Com (LON:BOO)

(at the time of writing, I hold a long position in this…

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