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Retail sector

Our experienced Retail team can draw upon their deep commercial experience from across the sector to help ensure your business can not only survive the current crisis, but also thrive when it’s over.

Retail has gone through a period of profound change. Pre-Covid, retail outlets and volumes were already declining as shopping habits shifted to on-line. Physical customer buying had become primarily about the experience, yet the approach was expensive and hard to maintain, particularly for luxury brands who need to be seen to have the right address.

Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, things have been significantly more challenging with health and safety concerns seriously impacting consumer confidence and phased lockdowns preventing many retail businesses from trading at all.

How we can help you

We have extensive experience across the retail sector from manufacturers to high street, online retail outlets to wholesalers.

Through our many years of experience we understand all business models available to retailers and how to pivot from one to another e.g. from high street to online or the challenges of placing a product with concessions/third parties.

For those who manufacture their own products we also understand intellectual property issues and know the right lawyers you to.

Our services

Our support for retail clients covers a range of services, drawing upon a team with a depth of experience, including:

  • Year-end compliance: Our teams can prepare year-end financial statements.
  • Audit: Completing a robust audit is the only way to ensure that financial statements are underpinned with the quality and credibility which directors and shareholders require. Our team can devise and execute an audit which is effective in identifying and addressing key risks that could have a material impact on your financial statements. As well as meeting your compliance requirements, our audits also provide actionable commercial insights.
  • Outsourced accounting: Our in-house management accounts team can carry out monthly bookkeeping services, payroll, VAT returns and a range of other support services to help with your ongoing compliance and deliver effective management information. Through our association with BKR International, our team can help you as you expand overseas or move into the UK.
  • Payroll and P11D: We offer personalised, relationship-led payroll services to manage your UK payroll responsibilities so that you can focus on more strategic matters. We can also provide advice and assistance with P11D compliance.
  • Corporate tax: We can prepare your Corporation Tax returns for compliance purpose, as well as provide advisory services and guidance on capital allowances.
  • VAT: In addition to assisting with your VAT returns, ensuring that they are compliant and submitted in a timely manner, our VAT planning experts will ensure that VAT is considered at all stages of a project, and address any queries you may have regarding importing and exporting.
  • Tax Structuring: We can advise you on structuring investment so that relevant reliefs, such as the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS), are taken advantage of. We can also prepare the subsequent filings.
  • Incentive planning: Our tax team can work with you on management incentive schemes, including valuations for HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), advice on the tax consequences of different structures and share option reporting.
  • R&D claims: We work with our clients to identify their relevant research and development (R&D) expenditure and prepare their claims for tax credits to submit to HMRC.

We can also leverage our experience in the technology and real estate sectors to address client issues such as how to manage the physical estate or pivot sales to an omnichannel format.

Sharing our insights

Our Retail team regularly share their perspectives and opinions with the market and the media. Below you can find a selection of their latest insights.

General Retail comments

21 October 2021

Autumn Budget 2021 predictions for the Property sector

Our property experts look ahead to the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget and what changes could be in store for the property sector.

21 October 2021

Autumn Budget 2021: Predictions for businesses

Our Audit, Assurance & Advisory team look at what measures the Chancellor, could, should and should not introduce in his upcoming Autumn Budget.

26 July 2021

Self’s assessment: taxing smartphones

Heather Self reviews the reason why taxing smartphones to fund the arts might not be such a good call.

Retail Property comments

21 October 2021

Autumn Budget 2021 predictions for the Property sector

Our property experts look ahead to the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget and what changes could be in store for the property sector.

11 February 2021

Reduction in High Street rates should be coupled with a review of business taxation

High Street retailers must get an immediate reduction in rates if they are to survive, says Heather Powell.

25 November 2020

Stamp Duty windfall for mixed-use buildings

Those buying mixed-use buildings and those that have bought such buildings in the last four years may be due a tax windfall, says Sean Randall.

Case studies

Luxury loungewear brand seeking commercially aware advisor able to handle the complexity of their expanding business

Cutting through the complexity of Big-4 audit advice

Would you like to know more?

We work with the full range of retail companies, from start-ups to established internationals. We understand the challenges of raising money and have worked with our clients to manage immediate cash-flow issues as well as developing their growth plans as they look forward.

If you would like to find out how we can help you, please get in touch with your usual Blick Rothenberg contact or one of the partners on this page.