Summary

  • BHS: Former owner Dominic Chappell defended himself in front of MPs

  • Dominic Chappell 'had fingers in the till': Former associate

  • BHS 'faced significant competition', MPs told

  1. WH Smith - Travel business boosts salespublished at 08:00 British Summer Time 8 June 2016

    Retailer WH Smith's "Travel" part of its business - the shops with a more captive audience, in places like airports, railway stations, motorway service areas, workplaces, and hospitals - has helped to boost group sales by 2% in the last three months. Travel sales were up 9%, offsetting a 4% decline in High Street sales. Like-for-like sales across the group were flat. 

    Quote Message

    Looking ahead we continue to focus on profitable growth, cash generation and investing in the business to position us well for the future. We remain confident in the outcome for the full year.

    WH Smith

    WH Smith shop in airportImage source, WH Smith
  2. AO electrical 'great progress'published at 07:46 British Summer Time 8 June 2016

    AO, the home electrical goods supplier, said UK sales grew 28% over the year. The boss, John Roberts, said: “It’s been another year of great progress for AO." The business is forecasting further growth. Its website says: "We don’t believe that you can fake being happy with any sincerity." Well. Indeed. 

    Washing machinesImage source, AO
  3. Sainsbury's in the groovepublished at 07:37 British Summer Time 8 June 2016

    This element of Sainsbury's "offer" has taken Business Live by surprise. It is the biggest retailer of vinyl records on the high street, it says. It only reintroduced vinyl record, external sales in March after 25 years. It has an 8% market share already. Where's the romance in flinging a disc in with your £2.95 Sainsbury's chicken?

    Vinyl discsImage source, Sainsbury
  4. Sainsbury hails first quarter resultspublished at 07:17 British Summer Time 8 June 2016

    Sainsbury says it has made a "solid start" to the year with sales excluding fuel (the price of which is always volatile) up 0.3%. Sales are down 1%. But Mike Coupe, chief executive, adds that market conditions remain challenging. Let's see what the shareholders make of that when the market opens.

    SainsburyImage source, Sainsbury
  5. BHS collapse - 'no shortage' of buyers for individual shopspublished at 07:12 British Summer Time 8 June 2016

    Old store front - 1970s?

    A reminder here of what the old-style BHS shops looked like. For years, many of those stores have been "starved of investment", Bryan Roberts, from TCC Global, says on the Today Programme. 

    Even though the business has now collapsed, individual stores could still be picked up by some of the biggest names in retail, he adds. "Primark might be interested, Sports Direct, Matalan - there's no shortage of retailers. Even some of the big discounters, like B&M, might be interested in some of the sites," says Mr Roberts.  

  6. BHS hearing - 'in for some finger pointing'published at 06:58 British Summer Time 8 June 2016

    Back to the key event of the day. Bryan Roberts, insights director at retail consultants TCC Global, tells Radio 4's Today Programme: "We're in for a massive round of finger pointing today." 

    The financiers have already distanced themselves from Dominic Chappell's consortium which bought BHS for £1 last year. BHS management has blamed Mr Chappell for taking money out of the business. And Mr Chappell - the centrepiece of today's select committee hearing - has intimated that Sir Philip Green should have taken on BHS's sizeable pension debt, Mr Roberts says.

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  7. Sports Direct - investor verdictpublished at 06:51 British Summer Time 8 June 2016

    Sports Direct's share price rose throughout Tuesday. Investors hailed Mike Ashley's performance in front of MPs with a 5% gain by the close of business. We'll let you know what the score is after the markets open shortly after 8am. 

    share price
  8. London launches China bondpublished at 06:36 British Summer Time 8 June 2016

    Something for investors to ponder as London sees China launch its first bond outside of the country.

  9. Sports Direct workers - will things improve?published at 06:29 British Summer Time 8 June 2016

    We're still fascinated by Sports Direct boss Mike Ashley's performance in front of MPs on Tuesday. Sarah Evans from the law firm Slater and Gordon tells Radio 5 Live's Wake up to Money: Yes. Sports Direct workers will be entitled to back pay for certain reductions - and she adds the "six strikes" disciplinary procedure is not justified in law. Some of those disciplinary criteria that were reported at Sports Direct are real risks to workers' safety, she says.

  10. Chappell 'in for a lot of stick' in MP hearingpublished at 06:23 British Summer Time 8 June 2016

    We were all glued yesterday to Mike Ashley appearing before MPs about Sports Direct's worker conditions. Today it's the turn of former BHS owner, Dominic Chappell, who will be grilled by two select committees about the collapse of the British department store. 

    James Bevan, chief investment officer at CCLA Investment Management, tells Wake Up to Money that Mr Chappell is "in for a lot of stick" from the MPs today. 

    It comes as BHS management, many of whom will also appear at 09:00, have written a letter blaming Mr Chappell for the chain's collapse. Managers, including chief executive Darren Topp, said the former owners had not raised sufficient funds to keep the business going. 

    Mr Bevan says management of course wanted more investment, but he also asks: "Who was going to put the money up?"

  11. Good morningpublished at 06:15 British Summer Time 8 June 2016

    Welcome to Business Live. Today's highlight of the morning is likely to be the questioning of BHS buyer Dominic Chappell by MPs. Should be gripping. We'll have all the main points as they happen. Keep it here.