Fashion giant H&M has announced its plan to shut 250 stores worldwide, while Burger King prepares to axe 1,600 UK staff.
The world’s second largest clothing retailer said around a quarter of its 5,000 stores are able to renegotiate or exit contracts next year, allowing it to close some stores.
Meanwhile, fast-food giant Burger King plans to permanently close some of its UK branches in a restructuring deal brought about by the pandemic.
It comes amid the Covid-19 bloodbath on the high street, with 195,331 job losses now announced by major British employers since the start of lockdown in March.
The world’s second largest clothing retailer said around a quarter of its 5,000 stores are able to renegotiate or exit contracts next year, allowing it to close some stores (file photo)
Fast-food giant Burger King plans to permanently close some of its UK branches in a restructuring deal (pictured: orders are collected at a drive-through in Portsmouth)
H&M’s update follows the Swedish company saying it has seen trading continue to recover in September following the pandemic, although sales remained 5 per cent lower than the same month last year.
It told shareholders that sales fell by 16 per cent to 50.8 billion Swedish krona (£4.4billion) for the quarter to August.
About 900 of its stores were closed to customers at the start of the period, due to lockdown restrictions.
It said this reduced to about 200 stores by the end of the quarter.
Burger King will review around 25 of its branches and is looking at a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) or pre-pack administration deal, according to Sky News.
The chain is said to have hired advisers from AlixPartners and could close up to 10 of its UK restaurants.
Helena Helmersson (above), chief executive of H&M, the world’s second largest clothing retailer, said: ‘Although the challenges are far from over, we believe that the worst is behind us’
Morrisons creates 1,000 jobs to expand Amazon Prime service
Morrisons is creating more than 1,000 permanent jobs to fulfil orders for its services on Amazon.
The supermarket said it is hiring the extra staff to pick and pack customer orders from more than 50 stores, covering most major UK cities and many towns.
Grocers have been launching new ways to win customers during the Covid-19 pandemic, benefitting from lockdown and the slump in the restaurant and pub trade.
The move follows similar job creation plans by other supermarkets including Aldi, Tesco and Iceland, although it does little to offset the 125,000 jobs lost in the sector so far this year.
Morrisons does not have the same footprint as its larger rivals and does not have a convenience store portfolio, so bosses have been forced to find other ways to win new business.
The supermarket launched a deal with Amazon for delivery of store cupboard products, in addition to offering its own online service following a deal with Ocado.
H&M further reported that its pre-tax profits fell to 2.37billion Swedish krona (£210million) for the nine months to August 31, topping analyst expectations.
H&M said it has taken ‘rapid and decisive action’ to manage the impact of the virus, addressing this with changes to purchasing, investments, rents, staffing and financing.
The company said it is stepping up its transformation plans with increased digital investment amid increased demand through its websites.
Helena Helmersson, chief executive of H&M, said: ‘Although the challenges are far from over, we believe that the worst is behind us and we are well placed to come out of the crisis stronger.
‘Demand for good-value, sustainable products is expected to grow in the wake of the pandemic and our customer offering is well positioned for this.
‘We are now accelerating our transformation work so that we continue to add value for our customers.’
It follows TSB announcing yesterday that it will cut around 900 jobs as part of plans to close 164 of its high street bank branches.
The Edinburgh-based bank said it expects most of the redundancies to be voluntary but did not rule out forcing staff out.
TSB added that its branch network would be the seventh biggest in the UK after the closures reduce it by a third.
In other employment news, Morrisons is creating more than 1,000 permanent jobs to fulfil orders for its services on Amazon.
The supermarket said it is hiring the extra staff to pick and pack customer orders from more than 50 stores, covering most major UK cities and many towns.
In July, Which? told how banks have continued to close branches at an ‘alarming rate’ despite new rules introduced to protect them.
HSBC, Lloyds, Santander, the Co-Op Bank, TSB and Virgin Money have together closed more than 600 branches since protective measures were launched in 2017, according to Which?.
And NatWest and Barclays have shut 651 and 386 branches respectively in the past three years, the investigation found.
Nearly 200,000 job losses revealed by UK firms since lockdown began
Some 195,331 job losses have been announced by major British employers since the start of the lockdown in March as follows:
- October 1 – Burger King – 1,600
- September 30 – TSB – 900
- September 22 – Wetherspoon – 400 to 450
- September 22 – Whitbread – 6,000
- September 18 – Investec – 210
- September 15 – Waitrose – 124
- September 14 – London City Airport – 239
- September 9 – Lloyds Bank – 865
- September 9 – Pizza Hut – 450
- September 4 – Virgin Atlantic – 1,150
- September 3 – Costa – 1,650
- August 27 – Pret a Manger – 2,800 (includes 1,000 announced on July 6)
- August 26 – Gatwick Airport – 600
- August 25 – Co-operative Bank – 350
- August 20 – Alexander Dennis – 650
- August 18 – Bombardier – 95
- August 18 – Marks & Spencer – 7,000
- August 14 – Yo! Sushi – 250
- August 14 – River Island – 350
- August 12 – NatWest – 550
- August 11 – InterContinental Hotels – 650 worldwide
- August 11 – Debenhams – 2,500
- August 7 – Evening Standard – 115
- August 6 – Travelex – 1,300
- August 6 – Wetherspoons – 110 to 130
- August 5 – M&Co – 380
- August 5 – Arsenal FC – 55
- August 5 – WH Smith – 1,500
- August 4 – Dixons Carphone – 800
- August 4 – Pizza Express – 1,100 at risk
- August 3 – Hays Travel – up to 878
- August 3 – DW Sports – 1,700 at risk
- July 31 – Byron – 651
- July 30 – Pendragon – 1,800
- July 29 – Waterstones – unknown number of head office roles
- July 28 – Selfridges – 450
- July 27 – Oak Furnitureland – 163 at risk
- July 23 – Dyson – 600 in UK, 300 overseas
- July 22 – Mears – fewer than 200
- July 20 – Marks & Spencer – 950 at risk
- July 17 – Azzurri Group (owns Zizzi and Ask Italian) – up to 1,200
- July 16 – Genting – 1,642 at risk
- July 16 – Burberry – 150 in UK, 350 overseas
- July 15 – Banks Mining – 250 at risk
- July 15 – Buzz Bingo – 573 at risk
- July 14 – Vertu – 345 July 14 – DFS – up to 200 at risk
- July 9 – General Electric – 369
- July 9 – Eurostar – unknown number
- July 9 – Boots – 4,000
- July 9 – John Lewis – 1,300 at risk
- July 9 – Burger King – 1,600 at risk
- July 7 – Reach (owns Daily Mirror and Daily Express newspapers) – 550
- July 6 – Pret a Manger – 1,000 at risk
- July 2 – Casual Dining Group (owns Bella Italia and Cafe Rouge) – 1,909
- July 1 – SSP (owns Upper Crust) – 5,000 at risk
- July 1 – Arcadia (owns TopShop) – 500
- July 1 – Harrods – 700
- July 1 – Virgin Money – 300
- June 30 – Airbus – 1,700
- June 30 – TM Lewin – 600
- June 30 – Smiths Group – ‘some job losses’
- June 25 – Royal Mail – 2,000
- June 24 – Jet2 – 102
- June 24 – Swissport – 4,556
- June 24 – Crest Nicholson – 130
- June 23 – Shoe Zone – unknown number of jobs in head office
- June 19 – Aer Lingus – 500
- June 17 – HSBC – unknown number of jobs in UK, 35,000 worldwide
- June 15 – Jaguar Land Rover – 1,100
- June 15 – Travis Perkins – 2,500
- June 12 – Le Pain Quotidien – 200
- June 11 – Heathrow – at least 500
- June 11 – Bombardier – 600
- June 11 – Johnson Matthey – 2,500
- June 11 – Centrica – 5,000
- June 10 – Quiz – 93
- June 10 – The Restaurant Group (owns Frankie and Benny’s) – 3,000
- June 10 – Monsoon Accessorise – 545
- June 10 – Everest Windows – 188
- June 8 – BP – 10,000 worldwide
- June 8 – Mulberry – 375
- June 5 – Victoria’s Secret – 800 at risk
- June 5 – Bentley – 1,000
- June 4 – Aston Martin – 500
- June 4 – Lookers – 1,500
- May 29 – Belfast International Airport – 45
- May 28 – Debenhams (in second announcement) – ‘hundreds’ of jobs
- May 28 – EasyJet – 4,500 worldwide
- May 26 – McLaren – 1,200
- May 22 – Carluccio’s – 1,000
- May 21 – Clarks – 900
- May 20 – Rolls-Royce – 9,000
- May 20 – Bovis Homes – unknown number
- May 19 – Ovo Energy – 2,600
- May 19 – Antler – 164
- May 15 – JCB – 950 at risk
- May 13 – Tui – 8,000 worldwide
- May 12 – Carnival UK (owns P&O Cruises and Cunard) – 450
- May 11 – P&O Ferries – 1,100 worldwide
- May 5 – Virgin Atlantic – 3,150
- May 1 – Ryanair – 3,000 worldwide
- April 30 – Oasis Warehouse – 1,800
- April 29 – WPP – unknown number
- April 28 – British Airways – 12,000
- April 23 – Safran Seats – 400
- April 23 – Meggitt – 1,800 worldwide
- April 21 – Cath Kidston – 900
- April 17 – Debenhams – 422
- March 31 – Laura Ashley – 268
- March 30 – BrightHouse – 2,400 at risk
- March 27 – Chiquito – 1,500 at risk
