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European retail sales declined 1.6 percent from a year earlier in March, the most since at least 1995 and twice as much as economists forecast, as soaring fuel and food costs sapped consumer spending.

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Power shortages could cut local economic growth by more than half, with the retail and construction sectors hardest hit, Avior Research has argued in a comparison with Brazil’s short-lived energy crisis of 2001

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Tesco’s third-quarter revenue climbed 12 percent as Britons bought more fresh and organic produce and the firm added supermarkets in eastern Europe and Asia, the largest UK retailer said yesterday.

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Massmart Holdings’ sales rose in the first five months of the fiscal year after the company raised prices, said South Africa’s biggest food and goods wholesaler.

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A Qatari fund has dropped plans for a £10.6 billion (R145 billion) bid for Britain’s J Sainsbury, blaming worsening credit markets and the cost of winning support from the firm’s pension trustees.
November 6, 2007

A Qatari fund has dropped plans for a £10.6 billion (R145 billion) bid for Britain’s J Sainsbury, blaming worsening credit markets and the cost of winning support from the firm’s pension trustees.

The fund, Delta Two, owns a 25 percent stake in Britain’s third-biggest supermarket group.
It said yesterday that it remained supportive of Sainsbury’s operational strategy. – Reuters

October 23, 2007 Lewis Group first-half earnings increased between 11.5 percent and 13.5 percent, the country’s third-largest furniture retailer by market value said yesterday. Sales for the six months to September 30 rose by at least 11 percent compared with the year earlier. The operating profit margin was expected to be slightly better than last year’s 23.9 percent. Lewis did not give a reason for the higher earnings. Shares gained 1.22 percent to R56.30. – Bloomberg

Clothing sales were expected to continue growing through Christmas, but were likely to face a tough first half next year, analysts said yesterday.

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Wayin is pleased to have successfully completed its first mobile marketing campaign in the retail space. Barcode coupons delivered by SMS attracted customers into Virgin Mobile’s brand new store in South Africa’s most famous township.

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The number of German billionaires hit a record 122 in a poll published yesterday, with the founders of the discount supermarket chain Aldi at the top of the list.

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Interim net profit at Tesco rose 18.8 percent to £936 million (R13 billion), Britain’s biggest retailer said yesterday.

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