Page 36 - November 2020

MARK FAITHFULL

Following

the Money

Mark Faithfull crunches the numbers as he looks at
analysis and expansion that reflects changing markets

H&M AND IKEA IN RECYCLING AND COULD 007 OPEN UP CINEMAS TO THE
RE-USE PUSH STREAMING GIANTS?
ast-fashion retailer H&M is giving Swedish customers ews that the release of James Bond movie, No Time To Die,
the chance to transform unwanted garments into is to be delayed by MGM a second time until April 2021
F revamped fashion favourites with the help of its new N - it was originally slated for April this year - had immediate
garment-to-garment recycling machine ‘looop’, so-called consequences. Cineworld, the world’s second-largest cinema chain,
because the company is “committed to closing the loop operates more than 530 cinemas in the US and 127 in the UK, is once
on fashion”. again closing its doors as the Covid-19 crisis causes the movie studios to
Created by the non-profit H&M Foundation, together defer big-budget blockbusters to 2021 and beyond. Rival Odeon is also
with research partner the Hong Kong Research Institute to close its screens on weekdays.
of Textiles and Apparel and Hong Kong based yarn spinner It’s a safe bet that if Cineworld and its rivals temporarily shutter
Novetex Textiles – looop debuted in one of H&M’s cinemas, then some of them won’t open back up again. And this gives
Drottninggatan stores in Swedish capital Stockholm on landlords a big headache. Under-pressure mall landlords are going to be
Monday 12 October, where customers can watch this highly incentivised to find alternative tenants and sanction deals and the
container-sized machine dissemble and assemble their streaming giants, including Amazon, Apple and Netflix might spy a cost-
unwanted garments, which are cleaned, shredded into effective opportunity to get a foothold in physical space.
fibres and spun into yarn, which is then knitted into new In May, widespread rumours that Amazon was circling AMC, which
fashion items. owns Odeon in the UK, were enough to send AMC’s stock price soaring.
The service costs around $11.50 for loyalty club Meantime, Netflix has already acted. In late May it snapped up the historic
members and a little over $17 for non-members Egyptian Theater in Los Angeles from not-for-profit company American
and all proceeds go to projects related to research Cinematheque. With a burgeoning production arm, Netflix is to use the
on materials. Egyptian to hold premieres and filmmaker events for its growing movie
“We must innovate materials and processes while business on weekdays. In 2019 it took over the lease of the historic
inspiring customers to keep their garments in use for as long arthouse Paris Theater in New York City, for theatrical releases, special
as possible,” says Pascal Brun, H&M Head of Sustainability. events and screenings, and to give Netflix Originals a big-screen home.
“Getting customers on board is key to achieve real change.”
Not to be outdone, the world’s biggest furniture
chain and fellow Swede, IKEA, is offering to buy back its
unwanted furniture from customers to resell as second-
hand as part of the group’s efforts to become more
environmentally friendly.
The Buy Back initiative will be launched in IKEA stores
across the UK and Ireland on 27 November – Black Friday
discount day – when items previously purchased from IKEA
can all be taken back by customers who register a request
online. Shoppers will receive vouchers to spend in store,
valued according to the condition of the items returned.

FINAL CHAPTER WRITTEN IN WALMART’S UK ADVENTURE
he world’s biggest retailer Walmart will retain just a minority stake in
Asda, the supermarket group that was supposed to propel it across the
T European continent, after it finally agreed a £6.8bn deal to sell a majority
stake in the business.
Walmart arrived in the UK back in 1999 but two decades on and the final chapter
in the UK experiment appears to be written, with confirmation that two billionaire
brothers from Blackburn, northern England, have won the battle to buy Asda in a
deal valuing the supermarket chain at £6.8bn. A consortium of Zuber and Mohsin
Issa and private equity firm TDR Capital will take a majority stake in Asda.
That Asda is to change hands after the abortive attempt to merge the business
with Sainsbury’s, which was scuppered by competition rules, is likely good news for
both players. Asda needs an owner that can focus on delivering its offer clearly and
concisely and for Walmart, right now Asda has become little more than a distraction.

36 RETAIL & LEISURE INTERNATIONAL NOVEMBER 2020
50 RETAIL & LEISURE INTERNATIONAL NOVEMBER 2018