McDonald’s reveals which drive-thru restaurants have reopened today May 20, 2020 McDonald’s has revealed which restaurants have reopened today as the fast food giant aims to be operating all drive-thru sites by early June. The company said it has a total of 33 UK restaurants open for drive-thru orders from today, with some also offering a delivery service. A further five UK sites are open for [...]
FTSE 100 breaks 6,000 barrier as vaccine hopes and Fed pledge boost markets May 18, 2020 The FTSE 100 broke through the 6,000-point milestone in a positive start to the week’s trading today, buoyed by hopes of a vaccine and more Federal Reserve stimulus. Easing lockdowns and lower infection rates in Europe infection hotspots Italy, the UK and Spain also boosted London’s blue-chip index. The FTSE 100 closed 4.5 per cent [...]
Aldi launches grocery delivery trial with Deliveroo May 18, 2020 Budget supermarket Aldi has announced that it will launch its first grocery delivery service today in partnership with Deliveroo. The retailer will trial a rapid delivery service from a store in Nottingham before extending the service to a further seven East Midlands stores next month. The German grocer said it could roll the service out [...]
Deliveroo launches in-app fundraising tool for free NHS meals May 12, 2020 Deliveroo today announced the launch of a new in-app fundraising tool allowing users to donate meals to NHS workers. From this week customers will be able to either round up their bill to the nearest pound or add an additional tip at checkout on the Deliveroo app. These funds will go towards the cost of [...]
Morrisons retail sales surge in lockdown but fuel demand drops May 12, 2020 Morrisons retail sales jumped in the first quarter of the year due to coronavirus stockpiling, however a drop in demand for fuel hurt overall sales. Like-for-like retail sales jumped 5.1 per cent in the 14 weeks to 10 May, driven by a 10.8 per cent surge in sales between weeks 12 and 14 of the [...]
Waitrose hires ex-Sainsbury’s director as new boss April 29, 2020 Waitrose has appointed former Sainsbury’s buying director James Bailey as its new boss to steer the supermarket through the coronavirus crisis. Bailey, who worked for Sainsbury’s for 18 years, will join the John Lewis Partnership as an executive director today and will be responsible for managing the supermarket’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. He will [...]
Shoppers spend extra £524m at UK supermarkets in April April 28, 2020 Shoppers spent an extra £524m at UK supermarkets during the coronavirus lockdown compared to April last year. Grocery sales soared 9.1 per cent in the 12 weeks to 19 April, which were £524m higher in the past four weeks than they were in April 2019. Households made a record low 14 trips to UK supermarkets [...]
Richard Branson hits out as Virgin Australia goes into administration April 21, 2020 Billionaire businessman Sir Richard Branson has hit out at the Australian government after low-cost airline Virgin Australia went into administration this morning. In an open letter, Branson, whose Virgin group owns 10 per cent of the airline, wrote: “In most countries federal governments have stepped in, in this unprecedented crisis for aviation, to help their [...]
Full-year sales at John Lewis stores could fall 35 per cent April 21, 2020 Full-year sales at John Lewis could fall around 35 per cent, around double the current level, as the department store faces a significant drop in demand due to the coronavirus pandemic. The department store said a 35 per cent drop would be the worst case scenario, assuming a significant drop between April and June, and [...]
Opinion: Supermarkets look a good bet April 20, 2020 The received wisdom at present is that UK property capital markets have pretty much gone into suspended animation in the face of the pandemic, but this certainly isn’t the case in the grocery-led sector. There are currently seven substantial supermarket transactions totalling around £205m which are either under offer or due to imminently complete. And [...]