Festivalgoers help drive Burberry to best sales performance in 18 months

Shoppers snapping up Burberry wellies, scarves and light jackets to wear at music festivals have helped the fashion brand to its best sales performance in 18 months despite lacklustre spending by tourists around the world.Sales of the luxury British brand fell by 2% to £433m in the three months to the end of June, with a 1% decline at established stores, an improvement from the 6% fall in the previous quarter and the best performance since Christmas 2023.Shares in Burberry rose by more than 4% on Friday morning on the better-than-expected performance, as CEO Joshua Schulman, who was appointed a year ago, attempts a turnaround.Sales rose in Europe and the Americas but continued to fall in Asia, including its all-important Chinese market, which accounts for 30% of sales.Schulman, the former boss of the US fashion brand Coach, said: “Its a tough macro [environment] out there and we are taking things step by step but we are optimistic about the quarters ahead and the business in general

Jaguar Land Rover delays launch of new Range Rover Electric

Britain’s largest carmaker, Jaguar Land Rover, has delayed the planned launches of its new electric Range Rover and electric Jaguar models to give it time for more testing and for demand to pick up, the Guardian can reveal.JLR has written to customers waiting for the Range Rover Electric to inform them that deliveries of the new version of the model will not start until next year, after initially aiming for late 2025.Two people with knowledge of the carmaker’s plans said that two planned Jaguar models – much anticipated since a viral pink-and-blue rebrand – may also be pushed back by several months compared with original plans.JLR has been hit by the impact of Donald Trump’s tariffs in recent months; this week it reported a 15.1% drop in sales in the three months to June after a temporary pause in exports to the US

New ‘buy now, pay later’ affordability checks may cover even smallest loans

Lenders may have to carry out affordability checks on even the smallest buy now, pay later loans under new rules drawn up by the City watchdog.The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)on Friday published details of its plan to regulate the £13bn buy now, pay later (BNPL) market.The proposals include requiring firms to offer support to customers in financial difficulty. Borrowers will also be able to complain to the financial ombudsman service if something goes wrong.Sarah Pritchard, the FCA’s deputy chief executive, said the regulator had wanted to police the sector for some time, amid rapid growth in demand for this type of loan

White House seeks inspection of Fed building as Trump piles pressure on Powell

The White House is pushing for an inspection of the US Federal Reserve headquarters in Washington after Donald Trump suggested the central bank had mismanaged funds for building renovations.The scrutiny comes as Trump has unsuccessfully tried to pressure the Fed chair, Jerome Powell, to quit and demanded he and other officials lower interest rates. Powell has said that lowering rates prematurely could lead to higher inflation, and that Trump’s tariffs had contributed to price increases.In response to the Fed chair’s resistance, Trump has threatened to fire Powell multiple times.Yesterday, after reports that Trump floated the idea of firing Powell to House Republicans, Trump said: “I don’t rule out anything, but I think it’s highly unlikely unless he has to leave for fraud

‘Worse than Covid’: hospitality bosses blame Reeves’ budget for UK downturn

“From a financial point of view, last year’s budget was worse for hospitality than Covid,” says Philip Thorley, who owns 18 pubs across Kent and employs about 400 people.Usually he is looking to recruit staff to help out in the summer months but this year will be different, he says, as the £25bn increase in employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs) that came into force in April has been “catastrophic for our company and industry”.He says the fact that Thorley Taverns is now taxed at about £8,000 a week, totalling more than £400,000 a year, means it cannot afford to take on anybody new during busier months. Current staff will have to work harder, Thorley adds, and the extra pressure could affect customer service levels and opening times.“This affects anybody in retail, in the high street and other entry-level jobs, especially young people,” he says

From landfill to luxury: how a designer uses scraps from Hermès and Chanel to make leather goods

Hyer Goods sells bags, wallets and other products made from high-end deadstocks – leftover fabrics that might otherwise end up in landfillsAfter more than a decade as a fashion designer, Dana Cohen was disillusioned. Excessive waste was rampant in every part of the industry – from surplus samples, to manufacturing scraps, to retail stores with “a disheveled mountain of garments that nobody wanted”, she said. “I was like, ‘I just don’t want to be a part of it any more.’”Then Cohen, who had designed for brands including Banana Republic, Club Monaco and J Crew, had a chance encounter with a manufacturer that changed her course. Drishti Lifestyle, based in India, had a container full of leather scraps it didn’t want to discard