retail
Shirtmaker TM Lewin could return to the high street as demand for suits shows signs of recovery. After being rescued from a second administration, the business has been operating online after the demand for formal and office clothing dropped significantly due to the pandemic. The brand’s new owners are relaunching the online platform and are considering opening new physical stores in the long term. Moss Bros recently announced it would open 10 new stores, while Next noted strong growth in suit sales since the beginning of the year.
Leisure
Multi-cuisine kitchen and grocery concept Neyba is set to grow to 14 London sites following a successful investment round. The first site, which offers a collaborative multi-cuisine menu of dishes with short cook times and the ability to buy ingredients, opened in Notting Hill in January. The brand plans to open sites in locations including Chelsea, Clapham, Hampstead, Islington, Wimbledon Village and Dulwich.
Property
Retail warehouse vacancy rates have started to decline after hitting an eight-year high in 2021, bringing the figure back to early Covid-19 levels. The new ‘Definitive Guide to Retail & Leisure Parks 2022’ by Trevor Wood Associates reviews trends in retail park occupancy and management, including the development pipeline for retail parks in the UK.
Savills Investment Management’s UK Value Boxes fund has acquired four retail parks— two in England, one in Scotland and a fourth in Wales, for £75m. These are the first assets for UKVB since its launch in 2021. The parks are located in Stafford, Catterick, Cardiff and Aberdeen. Harry de Ferry Foster, head of UK, fund director at Savills IM, said: "These acquisitions will provide a strong yield profile to our investors and exposure to a variety of household names as tenants off very low rents. The UK retail parks sector continues to demonstrate resilience to e-commerce trends given the high proportion of daily necessity and value-oriented items, and we look forward to making further purchases in the future to ensure the fund is fully invested."
In other news
Heathrow has recorded its highest passenger numbers since the onset of the pandemic. In March, the airport saw 4.2million passengers move through, up almost seven times on the same time last year. However, the return of demand has proven challenging for the aviation industry after the severe disruption in the past two years caused many companies to cut staff. Heathrow attributed the recent growth in passenger numbers to weekend trips and those travelling during school holidays after Britons made up for missed travel, although “inbound leisure and business travel remain weak due to high Covid-19 levels in the UK and the requirement to test before returning home.” Heathrow expects a busy summer despite stretched resources, while many British Airways and easyJet flights have been cancelled in recent weeks.
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