Private equity CVC agrees £3.79bn deal for Unilever tea business November 18, 2021 Private equity firm CVC has agreed to buy Unilever’s tea arm for £3.79bn (€4.5bn), it has been announced.
Crisps shortages: Shoppers left empty-handed as multipacks run out November 18, 2021 Shoppers with a craving for crisps have been left empty-handed this month, as official data reveals the scale of shortages. According to data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Thursday, multipack crisps were the trickiest item to get hold of in the country. Shelf availability was lowest for the products, with almost [...]
Marks Electrical shines in half-year results following stock market debut November 18, 2021 Online electrical retailer Marks Electrical reported a 78 per cent boost to revenue in its half-year results, while also posting a lower profit.
Costa Coffee will serve M&S food from next year November 18, 2021 Costa Coffee and M&S Food have joined forces so that customers visiting the coffee chain will be able to order M&S items. The collaboration, titled Costa Coffee Now Serving M&S Food, will launch next year and mean Costa customers can order more than 30 M&S menu items. The range will be available in more than [...]
Happy Hour: Fuller’s returns to profitability as pandemic restrictions ease November 18, 2021 Fuller, Smith & Turner (Fuller’s) is rebuilding its business following severe pandemic restrictions with profitable half-year results. The group has reported a healthy adjusted profit of £4.6m, after being down £22.2m during its first six months in last year’s results. Revenue has more than doubled, despite the pub operator suffering two months of pandemic restrictions [...]
London businesses hold out hope for bumper Christmas trade November 18, 2021 Three in 10 businesses anticipate this Christmas will be their most successful in the past five years, according to exclusive data from Barclaycard. Some 54 per cent of firms said they felt neutral or optimistic about the UK economy, meaning worries rage on for many businesses across the city. However, Barclaycard’s fourth quarter barometer found [...]
House of Fraser flagship Oxford St store to shut as firm warns of ‘inevitable’ further closures November 17, 2021 The House of Fraser flagship store on Oxford St is set to permanently close, in another blow to the capital’s shopping district. Frasers Group said it had been served notice by the landlord to close the site, after an application for planning permission to redevelop the site was given the green light. A spokesperson for [...]
Exclusive: The pandemic showed the limitations of an online-only model, says retail guru November 17, 2021 A year of enforced change in buying habits where pretty much everything went online has reverted to ‘the new normal’. The Covid pandemic accelerated the shift to online; but is the future of retail really digital only? While in the short to medium term, there will remain some concerns over the logistics of browsing and [...]
Retailers to lose £5.6bn due to supply chain nightmares November 17, 2021 Retailers are set to lose £5.6bn after reporting heavy losses due to supply chain disruption. According to Coupa Software’s survey of around 600 supply chain leaders at retailers across Europe, retailers anticipate losses of up to 20 per cent. Supply chain issues have been blamed, with UK retailers estimating an average loss of 5.7 per [...]
McColl’s shares topple by a third after supply chain nightmare hits profit forecast November 17, 2021 Convenience store chain McColl’s saw shares plummet by a third after it warned annual profits would be impacted by supply chain chaos. The firm blamed a lack of HGV drivers for a lack of supply of key items in the final quarter of its financial year. It said its EBITDA for the 2021 financial year [...]