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The retail giant, Primark has declared that it is going to shut 189 of its stores as United Kingdomâs upmarket stores have started locking down due to novel coronavirus. The UK Government wants to decelerate or arrest the spread of this virus, and thatâs why the government is taking some prudent decision of locking down places where there can be a gathering of people and result in the transmission of the disease. This move has affected retail businesses across the country very critically.
The business known for setting trends in the fashion industry stated that the decision would impact around 37,000 employees. However, the company also said that it is ready to pay their contracted salary for the next two weeks.
The Chief Executive of Primark, Paul Marchant, stated in his comment that the conditions due to Novel Coronavirus have been fast developing. Additionally, the company could not even think that this situation would affect the company operations to such an extent that it had to shut down its operations in every operating nation in a little over a weekâs time. On Sunday, i.e. 22nd March 2020, the company also revealed that it would withdraw all orders for clothes from distributors but only receive the orders which have already reached to the companyâs warehouses or stores.
The representative of the company said that it would observe the situation after the local & national government and the World Health Organization announced the revised guidance. The company's move came close to that of a host of other high street shops, such as HMV, Topshop and New Look, who also declared the closure of their retail stores. However, Arcadia Group, which owns fashion brands including Wallis, Dorothy Perkins, Topshop and Miss Selfridge, had already closed its stores until further notification from 4 pm last Friday.
Overview of Primark
Primark is a global retail company which delivers the latest beauty, fashion and homeware products at the best prices to UKâs upmarket segment. Primark stated itâs the first-ever store was set up in the year 1969 at Dublin under the name of Penneys. Till today, the company is operating more than 370 stores in twelve countries throughout American and Europe.
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John Lewis has also declared the closure of all its 50 shops
On 21st March 2020, the John Lewis Partnership declared that it is going close to its fifty stores in the UK from today, i.e. from Monday 23rd March 2020. The company said that the closure of the stores had been announced for a few days or on a temporary basis. This decision was made amidst unavoidable circumstances after footfalls of the stores reduced sharply.
However, johnlewis.com, which creates 50 per cent of the brandâs business, will be under normal operations. As per the company information, store employees will be reassigned to other roles throughout the John Lewis Partnership, wherever possible. The company also said that more than 2,000 staffs are already operational in its Waitrose supermarkets to help with the extraordinary requisition for essential goods and grocery as coronavirus has resulted in panic buying amongst consumers.
As the business of the company is confronted with a steep surge in demand for edible goods, it revealed that abnormal volatility due to COVID-19 outbreak had made the estimation of cash flows and profits difficult for the year. However, fashion sales are expected to drop, but it is anticipated that homeware and electrical appliance sales could gain traction as people have started working from home.
Overview of John Lewis Partnership
The John Lewis Partnership is the biggest employee-owned business in the United Kingdom. The company has approximately 338 Waitrose & partners shops and around 50 John Lewis & Partners shops throughout the United Kingdom.
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Pets at Home Group Plc faced social media Backlash due to coronavirus key worker claim for staff
The supplier of Pet essentials, Pets at Home Group Plc (LON:PETS) is under criticism on social media after it sent a letter stating that its employees were eligible for the Novel Coronavirus key workers list. The company stated that its specialist veterinary segment and Vets4Pets business segment employees are on the required list of staff. But it also claims that the employees who are working at its Groom Room segment, where brush, bath and blow-dry for a pet starts at £20, are qualified, as well as those who are working as customer services workers, store staff and other office support functions.
Additionally, the retail company drafted the letter for its staff to permit them to apply for headteachers for emergency school children claiming that its workers were qualified under the criteria of providing essential goods and services.
The chief executive of the Advantage Schools multi-academy trust in Bedfordshire, Stuart Lock, stated that he would boycott the company due to this letter. He blamed it of placing their professional interests ahead of peoplesâ lives in a critical situation.
Overview of Pets at Home Group Plc
Pets at Home Group Plc (LON:PETS) is the prominent pet care business of the United Kingdom. It provides the whole gamut of services to a pet owner from toys & bedding, food and grooming services to first opinion veterinary care and best-in-class specialist hospitals. It is listed on London Stock Exchange, and its stocks trade under the FTSE 250 Index.
PETS - Share Price Performance
On 23rd March 2020, at around 11:07 am (GMT), by the time of writing this report, the stock of Pets at Home Group Plc was trading at a price of GBX 223.20 per share on the London Stock Exchange, a decrease in the value of around 3.21 per cent or 7.40 GBX per share, as opposed to the closing price of the stock on the previous trading day, which has been reported to be at GBX 230.60 per share.
The share price of Pets at Home Group Plc recorded at GBX 317.08 as on 12th February 2020 was its 1-year peak price, whereas the share price recorded at GBX 136.10 as on 12th April 2019 was the 1-year low share price. The current share price was lower by 29.61 per cent from the 1-year high price, whereas the current share price was higher by 63.99 per cent from the 1-year low price.
The beta of the companyâs stock has been reported at a value of 0.26, which shows that movement of the share price is less volatile against the movement in the comparative benchmark index.
The annual dividend of the company was reported at GBX 7.50 per share, and the annual dividend yield was reported to be 3.25 per cent at the time of writing.
At the time of writing, the companyâs market capitalisation was reported at GBP 1.15 billion with respect to the stockâs current market price. The free float and outstanding shares of Pets at Home Group Plc stood at 468.70 million and 500.0 million, respectively.
