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Legal firm Linklaters released a new data according to which there has been a 66% rise in short positions against high street retailers and retail manufacturers between the period of beginning of 2015 and the end of 2017.
Short selling is a process where investors bet against the stock they expect to decline in value and make money.
Revealing the growing lack of faith in the UK retail sector can be seen by the sharp rise in short sells, which is currently facing headwinds from multiple directions. It is led to big name retailers like Maplin, Toys R Us, Mothercare, Conviviality and New Look to enter financial straits.
There were 32% of all short positions against consumer companies at the end of 2017.
This has risen to 34% in the first few months of 2018.
“Given the cyclical nature of retail and consumer, it’s no surprise that consumer companies have consistently been most shorted, but the sheer volume of short position reporting gives a c

March saw 10.1% plunge in sales, dropping to the lowest point since 2008 in the height of the financial crisis according to a new data from BDO’s High Street Sales Tracker.
The hardest hit sectors from the drop in footfall were Fashion and homeware seeing a 12.7% and 13.2% dive in sales respectively, marking the worst month on record for fashion.
Mother’s Day provided some respite for the lifestyle sector but ultimately failed to make a dent in the 4.5 per cent drop in sales. This was the second worst month on record.
Online sales suffered showing the slowest level of growth since 2015. Some recovery predicted by BDO in April with flat growth reported in the lead to Easter Sunday.
“However you look at it, March was a brutal month for stores,” BDO’s head of retail and wholesale Sophie Michael said.
The weather was severe and current shoppers’ reaction showed how paper-thin consumer confidence is. People weren’t spending online as they could

There is a drop of 11.5% in the number of people entering non-food outlets last month compared to same period last year and for the 11th consecutive month the overall footfall across UK has now fallen.
During the first week of March blizzards and heavy snow continued to grip the country retailers experienced a massive 28.8% decline in footfall against the same week in 2017.
Ipsos Retail Performance figures shows that despite Easter falling at the end of March, footfall failed to pick up over the bank holiday.
According to the recent data from Springboard the high street footfall dropped over the four day Easter weekend, although there was a footfall boost in shopping centres and retail parks.
South East and London was the biggest casualty, with footfall down by 15.5% according to Ipsos.
This was followed by Scotland and Northern Ireland with a 13.4% drop and The Midlands with a decline of 12.3%.
Retail Traffic Index is derived by the

High street footfall has dropped 9.6% on Good Friday and 6.9% on Saturday according to new data from Springboard.
As there is an improvement in weather on Sunday, shoppers ventured outdoor and pushing up high street footfall levels by 1.9%.
When compared to Friday and Saturday there is a rise of 5% footfall boost in retail parks and shopping centres.
“Despite positive results on Easter Sunday, retail footfall up to 12pm on Easter Monday has taken a tumble,” Springboard insights director Diane Wehrle said.
“This decline was undoubtedly caused by rain that hit much of the UK in the morning and also likely to be due to the fact that shoppers had already made their trips earlier in the weekend.”
Retail parks and shopping centres when compared with greater number of high streets means that the drop in footfall in high streets pulled the overall result for all UK destinations down to -2.4% on Good Friday and -3% on Easter Saturday.
Af

The latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), revealed that retail sales volumes rose 1.5% during the month to a year earlier, coming in ahead of the predicted 1.3% rise.
There is a rise of 0.8% in sales when compared to January, but a three month basis sales dropped 1.4% due to a dismal December dragging down figures.
Values also jumped from 3.9% compared to last year and 0.8% compared to January, despite inflation slowing.
The largest contributor was once again food stores to growth in amount spent, rising 0.6%, while non-food was the only main sector to see a drop down by 0.3% on January.
“Retail sales did grow in February, with increases seen in food, non-store and fuel, but this followed two months of decline in these sectors”, according to ONS senior statistician Rhian Murphy.
Prices continue to rise across all store types but lower than the previous month due to a slow down in price growth. A stronger price rise con

Early forecasts suggest that the upcoming Easter weekend would meet expectations as the most anticipated weekend for retail after Christmas. There is an increase of 2.4% in footfall when compared to the same trading period last year. Footfall may take a sudden turn and retailers could suffer if snow and ice were to return. Evidence from the previous two “beasts from the east” has shown.

The forecasts comes following Springboard’s announcement that there is a decrease of 0.5% in UK retail footfall in February which was less than a third of that recorded in January which was lower than the 12 month average of -0.7%. It has provided some good news in the face of the trading challenges for retailers reported recently.

Springboard insights director Diane Wehrle the first “beast from the east” on February 25 led to 16.6% decline in footfall in all retail destinations on the week beginning.

March 1, the worst hot day saw footfall drop by as much as 36%, while the three