Superdry is facing a "fluid and uncertain" situation, it has warned after closing 78 stores across Europe as governments urged shoppers to abandon the high street to prevent coronavirus spreading.

The fashion outlet said that a majority of its continental stores have been forced to close, representing around 40% of its weekly sales.

Stores in the UK, which account for 50% of sales, and the US, 10%, have seen footfall reduce by a quarter, despite keeping their doors open as usual.

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"Along with everyone else, Superdry is experiencing major disruption to our business operations and recovery as we seek to protect our staff and customers from Covid-19," said chief executive Julian Dunkerton.

"We are taking mitigating action wherever we can but the situation is very fluid and uncertain, and we are working to put in place additional financing to secure our recovery."

Superdry will not meet targets to sell between £5 million to £6 million worth of its products each week this year.

It added that online sales were not going to "fully mitigate" the drop from in-store sales, and cost savings would also fall short of offsetting the decline.

As a result, Superdry has withdrawn its annual guidance given to shareholders in early January.

The company said it has £47 million of cash on its balance sheets and is in discussion with its banks to "provide additional flexibility and liquidity" should it be needed.

Supermarket Morrisons has called on shoppers to "just buy what we need" as it revealed a jump in sales in recent weeks due to nationwide stockpiling amid the coronavirus crisis.

The group - which on Tuesday announced plans to hire 3,500 staff and ramp up its online operations to help meet surging delivery demand - said like-for-like retail sales rose 5% in the six weeks since its year-end.

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This marks a significant turnaround on the 1.4% drop seen in the year to February 2, and a 2.2% drop in the final quarter as the sector was impacted by Brexit and general election uncertainty.

Morrisons boss David Potts said the group was "facing into challenge", but made a plea to shoppers to be considerate as he admitted there were signs of some strain in the supply chain due to "considerable" stockpiling.

The group has already rationed purchases per customer transaction on 1,250 items, such as toilet roll, cleaning products and some health and beauty ranges.

He said: "If we just buy what we need then there will be enough ... enough for everyone."

"It's inevitable there is and will be strain in the further reaches of the supply chain," he added.

His comments came as the group posted full-year underlying pre-tax profits up 3% to £408 million, with shares surging as much as 19% in early trade despite a decision not to pay a final special dividend payout due to current uncertainty amid the outbreak.

He said the group was increasing the food it makes to help meet demand, while its home delivery expansion plans will increase delivery service by 60%.

One of Britain's biggest pub and restaurant owners has warned that sales are "getting worse by the day" as several of its peers said they were taking a serious hit from coronavirus.

The Restaurant Group (TRG), which owns Wagamama and Frankie & Benny's, said that like-for-like sales fell 12.5% in the last two weeks.

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It came alongside warnings from Marston's, which runs 1,400 pubs across the country, and Mitchells & Butlers, the owner of Toby Carvery and All Bar One.

TRG said in a statement to investors: "In particular, our concessions business has been significantly impacted with like-for-like sales down 21.7% and getting worse by the day given international travel bans."

It now expects like-for-like sales to drop by 45% in the first half of 2020 and is building a 68% sales drop and a 10-week shutdown into its forecasts for the leisure, pubs and Wagamama business.

Marston's warned that while it was not yet feeling the brunt of the coronavirus outbreak, Government advice to avoid eating or drinking out was bound to "significantly lower sales in the coming weeks".

Shareholders are now likely to miss out on the interim dividend, which was due to be recommended in May, which will save Marston's £20 million.

Mitchells & Butlers said that "recent trading has been severely impacted" by the outbreak.

It also warned that Government advice to stay away from public eateries "is now expected to lead to a further significant downturn in sales".

However, the pubs and restaurants groups welcomed Chancellor Rishi Sunak's proposals on Tuesday afternoon to slash business rates and give loans to firms that need firming up.

Marston's said they represented "good progress towards the very significant commitment which the hospitality sector requires from the Government".

Mitchells & Butlers said it was "encouraged", and The Restaurant Group has already built the rates relief into its forecasts for the next year.