Weekly Insights Dec 23, 2016

Executive Summary

• This week’s note “From the Desk of Deborah Weinswig” discusses how the Brexit vote impacted the UK economy in 2016 and details our expectations for the country’s economy in 2017.
• Fred’s Pharmacy has signed an agreement with Walgreens Boots Alliance and Rite Aid to purchase 865 stores across the Eastern and Western US, along with assets related to store operations, for a total of $950 million in cash.
• Total UK retail sales jumped by an exceptional 6.1% year over year in November, the Office for National Statistics reported. The increase was up from an already strong 6.0% jump in October. Internet pure plays, whose sales increased by 28% year over year, boosted the overall figures.
• As Amazon plans to enter Southeast Asia next year with its launch in Singapore, Lazada, Southeast Asia’s largest e-commerce site, is expanding its delivery network via partners in China and South Korea. Lazada, already present in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, has 12 warehouses and 92 distribution centers in the region.