Joules temporarily shuts up shop in England, online sales grow

Lifestyle brand Joules said that its English retail locations had closed as of Thursday in accordance with Downing Street's new four-week lockdown.

The FTSE 250-listed firm believes that it remained "well positioned" to satisfy higher anticipated online demand over the forthcoming peak trading periods, having completed several capacity and efficiency enhancements within its UK warehouse during 2020.

Although its English stores will not reopen until 2 December, the group anticipates that its Welsh locations will re-open on 9 November following a two-week lockdown, while stores across Scotland and Northern Ireland will remain open.

In terms of recent trading, Joules stated that encouraging trends seen at the time of its trading update on 23 September had continued, with sales for the period continuing to be ahead of expectations, driven by "strong" year-on-year e-commerce growth of 35%.

Chief executive Nick Jones said: "As we enter the peak trading season, the retail sector in England faces the challenge of having to close non-essential stores for the next four weeks.

"Despite this difficult backdrop, Joules has a very strong brand and a flexible business model, which has underpinned the group's robust performance to date during Covid-19."

As of 0855 GMT, Joules shares were up 5.79% at 106.0p.