Ted Baker, Primark and Debenhams: Brits own the session

Ted Baker and Primark led the news in Europe wheres Zumiez

had all the looks in the US. Meanwhile, Debenhams releases a trading update covering the 16 weeks or so from March to mid-June on Thursday morning. "As we have seen from a number of retailers already, like-for-like sales until mid-April are likely to be weak," advanced analyst Peel Hunt.

Ted Baker made the news on Wednesday as its founder and CEO, Ray Kelvin, sold a 3 percent stake in the company. After the sale, Ted Baker´s founder and CEO´s stake in the company equity has been reduced from 38.9 percent to 36 percent. The placing will be managed by Espirito Santo Investment Bank and, according to sources close to the company, will be priced at something close to 17 pounds a share.

“Ted Baker plc, the British designer brand, has been advised by Ray Kelvin, Founder and Chief Executive of the Company, of his intention to sell up to 1,200,000 Ordinary Shares in the Company (the "Placing"). This represents 2.82 percent of the total number of voting rights in the Company,” said the company in a communication issued Wednesday.

The stock lost 2 percent on Wednesday after the placement was made public. Nevertheless, Ted Baker has surged to a trading new high, adding over 150 percent since early 2012.

Good news for British fashion peer Primark, as its new store in Germany confirms the retailer´s success among savvy German consumers. Primark's new store in Berlin enjoyed the best-ever opening day last summer, as the retailer reportedly revealed. Commenting the new opening for the Irish newspaper ´The Independent’, Buying director Ann Marie Cregan said that "There is an excitement about Primark in Germany that we didn't expect when we first opened and we are seeing people travel 300-400 miles radius to shop with us." "They are coming from eastern Europe and all over Germany and buying in multiples – sometimes the one thing in four different colours, which would be an unusual pattern to Ireland or the UK," Cregan added.

Sales for the financial year 2011-12 were 3.503 billion pounds, with 356 million operating profit. Primark currently runs 257 stores across Europe: Ireland (38), UK (161), Spain (35), Germany (10), Portugal (6), Netherlands (4), Austria (2) and Belgium (1).

Elsewhere, analysts at Zacks have shown their support to Zumiez in a report released Wednesday. They currently have a 28 dollars price target on the stock.

“Building on its long-term growth strategies and strength in assortments, Zumiez managed to beat earnings expectations in first-quarter fiscal 2013, marking its 18th consecutive quarterly beat. Going forward, we believe Zumiez’s store expansion policy along with enhancement of e-commerce will help boost the company’s top and bottom lines. We also remain impressed with the Blue Tomato acquisition, which has provided the company a solid platform to capitalise on emerging opportunities. However, we are skeptical about the company’s future comps performance due to the fall in comparable store transactions in recent times. Further, we believe that intense competition from rival speciality retailers, the seasonal nature of the business and risks associated with sourcing merchandise from foreign countries may undermine the company’s results. Hence, our long-term Neutral recommendation on the stock remains in place,” Zacks said.