The end of year results, filed by Chief Financial Officer, Neil Gamble also report net profit before tax increased to £76m in 2025.

In the report, Mr Gamble states: “Operating costs were controlled well throughout the year despite a significant increase in wage costs, driven by both inflationary pressure, national minimum wage rate increases, and the impact of increased employers’ national insurance charges levied by the UK government.

“The Group has sought to mitigate the impact of these cost increases on consumer pricing by prioritising initiatives designed to improve the operational efficiency of the business, while also continuing to invest in remuneration and other initiatives designed to improve colleague engagement and deliver better prices for shoppers.”

Henderson Foodservice Limited continued with success in 2025, growing sales by 14.8% on 2024 to £289m.

“We are delighted that all sales channels experienced growth in Henderson Foodservice,” said Neil.

“Of particular note is the strong growth across independent customers in the Republic of Ireland, with the Group investing in the appointment of an ROI Country Director in 2025 to help accelerate that growth.

“Further, new retailers and the retention of existing retailers within the Wholesale Group in Northern Ireland enabled the growth, as did the ongoing roll-out of the company’s Delish food- to-go brand across the store network. Barista Bar coffee-to-go continued its impressive growth across England and Scotland, providing significant opportunity to build our competitive offering beyond Northern Ireland.”

Throughout 2025, Henderson Group employed on average 5,662 colleagues across its companies and retail estate, with a wage contribution of over £167m.

“The Group’s fundraising total for our charity partners in 2025 was £1.8 million, with a £1 million milestone reached for SPAR charity partner, Marie Curie and a milestone of £2.2 million reached for EUROSPAR charity partner, Cancer Fund for Children, since both partnerships began in 2017 and 2011 respectively,” added Neil.

“For the first time, our Christmas partnership appeal for Tearfund surpassed the one million pound mark in 2025, reaching £1,037,030.”

Other charitable organisations which received donations included Action Mental Health, Children’s Heartbeat Trust, NI Children’s Hospice, PIPs Charity and the Jack & Jill Foundation. Meanwhile £20,000 was distributed to community organisations and charities through the Community Cashback Grant.

Payroll Giving contributed £447,000 in 2025, with 20.5% (almost 1,200) colleagues signed up to the scheme, resulting in the Group being recognised as a Diamond Level Organisation by the UK Payroll Giving Excellence Awards.

The post Henderson Group posted £1.5bn turnover for 2025 as financial results revealed first appeared on Neighbourhood Retailer.

It’s time to start the countdown to this year’s Neighbourhood Retailer Awards! We are delighted to begin sharing our wonderful sponsors in our special feature, Sponsor Spotlight. To get us underway, we find out more about our Platinum Sponsor, Allwyn, who is also sponsoring the Community Store of the Year award, from Bridget Lea, Managing Director – Retail.

On behalf of everyone at Allwyn, operator of The National Lottery, we are delighted to be the overall sponsor for the prestigious Neighbourhood Retailer Awards. Recognising and celebrating the fantastic achievements of passionate retailers across Northern Ireland is something we are honoured to support.

Having recently joined Allwyn at such an exciting time, following the successful transformation of our retail estate, I’m thrilled to be working closely with our dedicated National Lottery retail partners as we take the next steps of our journey.

Allwyn has completed the biggest transformation in The National Lottery’s history, investing £450m to strengthen future growth. As a result, we are now able to drive excitement through innovation and new games.

As we look to the future, it’s important to reflect on the achievements delivered since the launch more than 30 years ago. The impact is seen not only in the millions of winners awarded over £103bn in prizes, including more than 8,000 millionaires, but also in the £53bn raised for National Lottery Good Causes.

This includes over 680,000 projects — from sports grounds to historic buildings, community groups to arts institutions and environmental causes. Most people in the UK will have benefited from a National Lottery-funded project, which is something we can all be proud of.

In Northern Ireland alone, more than £1.6bn has been awarded to Good Causes as of 31st March 2026, supporting over 36,000 projects that benefit local communities.

With strong foundations now in place to help return the magic and drive more players into stores, we are committed to building on this success and generating even more for Good Causes.

Kick-starting our plans are changes to Lotto and Lotto HotPicks. Subject to final regulatory approval, from 7th June, players will get two chances to win on each line played – all for the same price and the same number of balls to choose from – with a new two-round format in every draw. The game is expected to generate millions of pounds in weekly sales, and along with the introduction of new Guaranteed Millionaire events, it will more than double the number of millionaires made over the course of a year.

We have also launched a UK-specific version of Powerball this summer, bringing the world’s biggest rolling jackpot game outside the USA for the first time. At £4 a line, customers can play alongside the game’s US counterparts for a chance to win the mega, shared jackpot, which will be paid out over 30 years to UK jackpot winners. The game is expected to deliver around £1bn more to UK Good Causes over its first five years.

Finally, a heartfelt thank you to all National Lottery retailers for your continued support in helping raise over £33m a week for Good Causes. By working together, we can make this year a success for everyone.

We look forward to celebrating with you at the Awards.

BOOK YOUR TABLE AT THE 2026 NEIGHBOURHOOD RETAILER AWARDS HERE!

The post Thank you for ongoing support and hard work: Allwyn first appeared on Neighbourhood Retailer.

The 36-year-old was arrested on Friday 7^th August on suspicion of robbery and possession of an offensive weapon with intent to commit an indictable offence.

The alleged incidents occurred on Thursday evening, 6^th August at premises located in the Agincourt Avenue and Lisburn Road areas when they were entered by an unknown man who produced a knife and demanded money from staff.

These incidents came just days after a shocking incident in which a member of staff working in an off licence in Carrickfergus was allegedly stabbed with a screwdriver. A 34-year-old man has been remanded into custody in relation to this incident.

The first incident in south Belfast occurred at approximately 7.50pm when a male went into the premises in Agincourt Avenue and took a quantity of alcohol to the counter. He then produced a knife before demanding staff empty the tills.

Later, at 9.50pm a report of a second incident at an off licence on the Lisburn Road was received by police. A man matching the description from the previous incident entered the store and again took alcohol to the counter before producing a knife and demanding staff empty the till.

He left the store with cash and alcohol, making off in the direction of Donnybrook Street.

The incidents were described as terrifying for the staff working in the off licences, and although shaken, thankfully none of the staff members sustained any injury.

Detective Sergeant McGearty said that following questioning, the man was later released on police bail to allow for further enquiries in relation to the investigation.

Officers are continuing to investigate the incidents in south Belfast and are appealing for anyone with information to contact them.

The post Man arrested after ‘terrifying’ off licence robberies first appeared on Neighbourhood Retailer.

Footfall in Belfast increased by 0.8% (year-on-year), up from -1.9% in June, while shopping centre footfall increased by 6.2% in July (year-on-year), up from 0.4% the previous month.

The most recent Northern Ireland Retail Consortium-Sensormatic data covers the fours weeks from 5^th July to 1^st August.

Director of NIRC, Neil Johnston said retailers were pleased to see that shoppers in Northern Ireland were out and about in July.

“The retail environment remains very challenging but in Northern Ireland the number of shoppers was up 2.6% while across the UK it was down by 2.1%,” said Neil.

“Northern Ireland was the second-best performing region in the UK just behind Scotland on 2.7%. London, by way of contrast was down by 5.3%.

“Northern Ireland and Scotland were the only places in the UK to record a significant increase in the number of shoppers compared to the same time last year. Partly this may be due to the fact that we largely had warm, dry, pleasant weather when much of England sweltered in a heatwave.

“Shopping centres seemed to fair best with numbers through shop doors up by 6.2% in Northern Ireland compared to a decline of 1.4% in shopping centres across the whole UK. Belfast was up by 0.8%, which while modest was one of the strongest performances across the UK.

“The heatwave may have had an impact in discouraging shoppers from heading out in other parts of the country but in Northern Ireland consumers seemed content to visit their retail hubs in encouraging numbers.”

Andy Sumpter, Head of Consulting & Analytics – EMEA for Sensormatic added: “July delivered a strong result for Northern Ireland, with footfall rising +2.6% year-on-year, making it the second strongest performing UK nation and a significant improvement over June.

“While Northern Ireland also experienced exceptionally warm weather during the month, conditions were less extreme than those seen across much of Great Britain, helping to support shopper activity. Shopping Centres performed particularly well, highlighting consumers’ continued appetite for destination-based retail when conditions are favourable.

“Growth in Belfast also helped underpin the region’s performance, providing a welcome contrast to the challenges seen in many larger UK cities. More broadly, July’s result suggests Northern Ireland continues to demonstrate a degree of resilience despite the wider pressures facing retail.

“While consumer behaviour remains cautious, this month’s return to stronger growth will be encouraging for retailers as they look to build momentum and convert footfall into meaningful spend through the remainder of the summer.”

The post Retailers encouraged by shopper turnout first appeared on Neighbourhood Retailer.

Edward Stuart Cambridge, with an address at Dismas House Hostel on the Ormeau Road in Belfast, first appeared in Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Monday 3^rd August, where he faced a total of 12 charges in relation to an armed robbery in a Carrickfergus business.

The shocking incident allegedly took place on Friday 31^st July when the 34-year-old entered the Winemark off licence on the Woodburn Road in Carrickfergus at approximately 8.10pm. Police received a report that a man had entered the store a short time before, grabbed a female member of staff from behind and held a pointed item to her throat while demanding cash.

The female staff member was forced to the back of the store, where her colleague was working. The two were then made to obtain cash for the man, who began punching and kicking the male staff member.

The male member of staff was also stabbed in the side with a pointed item, later discovered to be a screwdriver. The two staff members were able to escape while the accused was distracted.

Police officers later spotted a man who matched the description given by staff and after a foot chase, a struggle followed during which an officer was punched before the man was detained.

Detective Inspector Gallagher praised response officers who found the suspect shortly after the alleged incident.

“This was a terrifying ordeal for the off licence staff, who showed great presence of mind in being able to escape from the store,” said Detective Inspector Gallagher.

“We’re relieved that, although shaken by their experience, neither sustained serious injury.”

Cambridge subsequently appeared in court, where he was charged with two counts of robbery, two counts of assault on police, criminal damage, two counts of false imprisonment, making threats to kill, theft, two counts of common assault and a charge of aggravated burglary and stealing.

He was remanded into custody at Maghaberry to appear in court again, by videolink, on Monday 10^th August. Following this appearance, he was remanded into custody to appear again on 7^th September.

The post Off licence armed robbery accused remanded into custody first appeared on Neighbourhood Retailer.