Lettuce panic: Now supermarkets are rationing iceberg lettuce and broccoli February 3, 2017 Planning on stocking up on vegetables for your next weekly shop? Hopefully you don't need more than three iceberg lettuces – because Tesco has now rationed customers per visit, due to poor growing conditions in Europe causing a shortage in stores. Signs have been sent to all Tesco stores to notify customers, apologising for any inconvenience. [...]
Little Chef roadside restaurant chain sold February 3, 2017 Little Chef's owner has announced the sale of the roadside restaurant business. Kout Food Group said today that it had sold its roadside portfolio to Euro Garages, a roadside retail company operating brands such as Starbucks, Subway and Greggs. Read more: Little Chef is being gobbled up City A.M. understands Euro Garages has bought all of [...]
Budweiser and AB InBev unwittingly get political with Super Bowl ad telling story of founder’s immigration to the US February 3, 2017 Budweiser and its owner Anheuser-Busch InBev have, apparently unwittingly, become embroiled in the American immigration debate. A 60-second Super Bowl TV advert, documenting the journey of the company’s co-founder Adolphus Busch from Germany to St Louis, has been interpreted as a pro-immigration message shortly after Donald Trump suspended entry from seven majority Muslim countries. Read [...]
Amazon’s sales jumped in the last quarter, but it missed analyst targets February 2, 2017 Online retail giant Amazon.com's share price fell four per cent in after-hours trading as operating income and revenue for the fourth quarter fell lower than expected. The figures Amazon reported a 22.4 per cent increase in its fourth-quarter revenue, driven by strong sales in the holiday period and increased Prime subscriptions. Net sales were up [...]
GVC shares jump after final quarter bonanza and debt savings February 2, 2017 Shares in online gambling firm GVC leapt nearly six per cent today after the firm revealed a jackpot fourth quarter that beat market expectations. Net gaming revenue (NGR), gross bets less associated payouts, jumped by nine per cent to €231m (£199m) in the final three months of the year. Read more: GVC shares jump after betting [...]
Estee Lauder’s share price climbs as it grows sales February 2, 2017 Beauty group Estee Lauder Companies' share price climbed four per cent as it reported strong sales in its second quarter results. The figures The company – which owns brands such as MAC, Clinique and Bobbi Brown – reported net sales of $3.21bn (£2.56bn) for the quarter ending 31 December, up three per cent as compared to the [...]
Sports Direct buys 11 per cent share in French Connection February 2, 2017 Sports Direct has bought an 11 per cent of French Connection, a stake that would allow the company to disrupt any buy-out bid for the ailing high street retailer. The move comes at a time of flux for the company, which has been hit by losses for five years. Activist investors have been pushing non-executives [...]
Here’s how analysts are reacting to Reckitt Benckiser’s move to acquire Mead Johnson February 2, 2017 Just as analysts were digesting the news that Tesco and Booker Group are merging, Reckitt Beckiser (RB) has revealed that it is in talks to snap up US group Mead Johnson. The deal values Mead Johnson – which manufactures baby milk – at $16.7bn. Mike van Dulken of Accendo Markets said RB was making the move to access the [...]
A major French Connection investor has sold its entire stake February 1, 2017 French Connection's second-largest shareholder has reportedly sold its entire stake in the company. Shroders, which owned 9.27 per cent of the French clothing retailer, sold its shares at to an unknown buyer at 33p each, the Telegraph reported. The stake sale revived speculations of a takeover of the struggling firm, which has had almost nine [...]
Waterstones has finally turned a profit again after years of losses February 1, 2017 Waterstones has turned an annual profit for the first time since 2009 as book sales picked up in 2016. The figures The bookseller reported a pre-tax profit before exceptional items of £11.9m, which was up from a loss of £3.4m in the previous year. Sales rose 4.3 per cent to £409.1m for the year ended 30 April, up [...]