Lidl pays back £100m in business rates relief December 4, 2020 Budget supermarket Lidl has joined the Covid repayment train in announcing it will pay back millions in business rates relief it received at the start of the pandemic. In March, the supermarket sector along with other retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in England, was granted a business rates holiday for 12 months. Lidl today said [...]
Supermarket heavyweights the Co-op and Waitrose face mounting pressure to return business rates relief December 4, 2020 High street titans the Co-op Group and Waitrose are facing mounting pressure to follow their peers and hand back millions of pounds of business rates relief dished out to keep the companies afloat during the pandemic. The Co-op is facing growing disquiet from members after refusing to emulate rivals Tesco, Morrisons, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Aldi, [...]
Asda joins ranks of supermarkets set to return business rates relief December 3, 2020 Asda has joined the growing number of UK supermarkets to hand back business rates relief given by the government to help it through the coronavirus crisis. This afternoon the grocer confirmed that it would repay £340m in emergency support – the fifth supermarket to make such a pledge. Since Tesco first announced it would give [...]
Aldi becomes fourth supermarket to return business rate relief December 3, 2020 Aldi has become the forth supermarket to return the full value of the business rate relief it has received during the pandemic. Aldi will pay back more than £100m to the government and devolved administrations. The decision follows pledges from Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s to do the same, which will pay back £585m, £230m and [...]
Landlords approve Caffe Nero rescue deal December 1, 2020 Landlords have approved Caffe Nero’s rescue deal, allowing the coffee shop chain to renegotiate rental agreements for its 800 UK stores. The company said this afternoon that more than 90 per cent of creditors, including landlords, had given the green light to the company voluntary arrangement (CVA) proposals. It will allow Caffe Nero to move [...]
Roasted: Caffe Nero rejects Issa brothers bid in favour of CVA November 30, 2020 Roasted: Caffe Nero rejects Issa brothers bid in favour of rent deals and restructuring
Snakes and Ladders: Who is moving jobs in the City this week? November 25, 2020 Snakes and Ladders provides a roundup of the most important hires and job moves across the City, every Wednesday afternoon. Email citymoves@cityam.com to be featured. Firms are continuing to adapt to the challenges and opportunities presented by the pandemic as they vie to be in prime position to recover from the economic fallout of the crisis. This week, [...]
The good, the bad, and the orange: In search of the perfect 2020 Christmas ad November 24, 2020 To call 2020 a “garbage fire” of a year would not be unfair. This year has turned people’s worlds upside-down in so many ways. But at least a few things remain a constant presence in life — one of which is the return of the blockbuster Christmas TV advert. While the advertising budgets look a [...]
From hero to zero: How supermarkets became the villains of the pandemic November 20, 2020 The recent news from Public Health England (PHE) that supermarkets are the most frequent common exposure setting for those catching Covid-19 in England is both shocking and devastating. But should we really be too surprised? PHE used data collated from the NHS test and trace app during the lockdown in November when supermarkets, as in [...]
Asda sales growth slows but grocer forecasts bumper online Christmas November 17, 2020 Asda’s sales growth slowed in the third quarter as lockdown restrictions lifted and hospitality businesses reopened, the supermarket announced this morning as it said customers are already stocking up for a “very different” Christmas this year. The grocer’s like-for-like sales excluding fuel were up 2.7 per cent in the three months ended 30 September, compared [...]