Supermarket sales slow over Easter as Brits start to cut back on grocery purchases May 4, 2022 Supermarket sales slowed last month as spending habits returned to normal after pandemic restrictions. Households are tightening their purse strings after the first tranche of higher bills hit budgets this spring while spending habits are also normalising after the easing of lockdown restrictions. Shoppers added slightly fewer items to their baskets over the last four [...]
Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Greggs join forces to lobby Sunak to slash business rates May 3, 2022 Supermarket giants have reiterated calls for a cut in business rates as firms endeavour to keep prices competitive for shoppers amid rising inflation. Big names including Morrisons and Co-op have come together under a new Cut the Shops Tax campaign, organised by the Retail Jobs Alliance. In a joint letter to Chancellor Rishi Sunak, bosses [...]
Retail union ups pay ask to £12 per hour as cost of living spikes May 2, 2022 Retail firms should pay a minimum wage of at least £12 per hour, as recent pay hikes offer little respite against soaring inflation, a trade union has urged. In recent weeks, several large employers have hiked wages for shop floor and warehouse staff. Supermarket giant Tesco will raise hourly wages by 5.8 per cent from [...]
Clean energy start-up pursues investors for world’s longest undersea cable April 29, 2022 Plans for the world's longest undersea cable connecting that could deliver nearly a tenth of the UK's electricity have been given a fresh boost today.
Households face extra £271 on annual food bill as grocery inflation highest since 2011 April 26, 2022 Households are facing an additional £271 to their grocery bill, with price inflation now standing at the highest level in over a decade. According to fresh data from Kantar, grocery price inflation has reached 5.9 per cent, the highest level since December 2011. Brits are facing a slew of price increases this spring, as businesses [...]
Brits race to snap up sunflower oil as shops place limits: Restaurants face shortage of cooking oil April 23, 2022 Supermarkets across the UK have placed limits on how much cooking oil customers can buy due to supply-chain problems caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Tesco is allowed three items per customer while Waitrose and Morrisons have placed limits of just two items each. The British Retail Consortium’s Tom Holder said the move was a [...]
Brexit-supporting Newark in shock as largest employer shuts up shop and heads for mainland Europe April 21, 2022 Local media and residents in the English town of Newark, as well as its local MP Robert Jenrick, are said to be shocked and disappointed by the decision of food producer Goodlife Foods to shut up shop and move its entire production to mainland Europe. The decision is likely to result in around 110 job [...]
Prices rising fast: Brits face acute egg shortage as spiralling hen food costs and energy bills lead to mass exodus of farmers April 20, 2022 UK customers could face empty shelves as an exodus of British egg farmers is caused by a lack of support from supermarkets amid spiralling costs, industry players warned today. Farmers have previously called on supermarkets to increase their egg prices due to soaring feed and energy costs in the production process. However, the industry has [...]
Grocers see more than £1bn wiped off value after Tesco profit warning April 14, 2022 Supermarkets had a total of more than £1bn chipped off their market value on Wednesday, after a warning over inflationary pressures from Tesco. Grocers including Ocado and Sainsbury’s suffered poor performances on Wednesday, after Tesco warned that profit could be hammered by rising costs and shifts in shoppers’ behaviour. Ocado took a hit on the [...]
The City View: Rob Appleby, CIO of the Cibus Fund, on the future of food, food tech, and supply chain disruption April 13, 2022 Today Andy Silvester chats to Rob Appleby, co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of the Cibus Fund, a London-based private equity platform focused on investments in sustainable food and agriculture. They go through the tech revolution in farming; why we should rethink the production of food; the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on the global [...]