Membership has benefits – as Amazon found in Q4 when growth in Amazon Prime membership helped to offset rising operating costs.
FINANCE
Ralph Lauren (USA) reported Q3 net income 81.7% year-on-year to $217.7 million.
- Revenues for the quarter ended December 25 rose 26.7% to $1.8 billion, way ahead of estimates for $1.645 billion.
- North America revenue increased 30% to $929 million, with a 40% increase in sales at physical stores and a 32% rise in ecommerce.
Capri Holdings (USA) reported net revenues rose 24% to $1.6 billion for the quarter ended Dec. 25. Sales rose 20% to $1.2 billion at Michael Kors, 29% to $251 million at Versace and 47% to $178 million at Jimmy Choo.
- Net income increased 79% to $322 million, from $179 million a year ago.
- Full-year revenue forecast at $5.56 billion up from an earlier estimate of $5.4 billion.
- Fiscal 2023 revenue is expected to reach $6.1 billion.
PODCAST
The Big Movement Towards Downsizing
In a reversal of a decades-long trend where it seemed as if even too much wasn’t enough, a growing number of people are looking to get rid of all those things that they don’t really need.
In this podcast Sheri Koones, an international expert on the ‘small house movement’ and author of 10 bestselling books on the subject, gives us insights into:
- What’s driving the move to downsizing?
- How prefab construction is revolutionizing the construction industry.
- Why going smaller doesn’t mean trading down.
Amazon (USA) reported Q4 sales were up 24% from a sluggish third quarter to $137.4 billion. Sales were also up 9% year-over-year from the same period in 2020.
- Q4 profits surged to $14.32 billion, after facing a 49% year-on-year decline in Q3.
- Amazon said 2021 Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend were its best ever.
- In September, Amazon boosted its average starting wage again to $18 an hour, and began including signing bonuses to entice hard-to-recruit hourly workers.
- The annual price for Prime membership will increase 16.8%, from $119 to $139, this month to offset rising transportation and wage costs.
Kohl’s (USA) is fending off an unsolicited takeover from Acacia Research at $64 per share, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
- The company has rejected the offer because it “does not adequately reflect the Company’s value in light of its future growth and cash flow generation, according to a statement from Kohl’s board of directors.
RETAIL
“Retailers are working hard to cut costs … as commodity prices, energy prices and transportation costs continue to rise, it is inevitable that retail prices will continue to follow in the future.”
– Helen Dickinson, the chief executive of the British Retail Consortium
Marks & Spencer (UK) will add home textiles and other homewares to its food halls to capitalize on the strong foot traffic there.
MARKETS
UK shop price inflation rose to 1.5% in January from 0.8% in December, according to the latest data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC), the highest level for nearly a decade. However this was mainly driven by surging prices for furniture, up 12.5% year-on-year, per the National Statistics Office.
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