Bidding war for Morrisons heats up as US private equity giant makes £7bn move August 20, 2021 A fresh £7bn bid for supermarket chain Morrisons has been put forward by US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R). The deal has been unanimously accepted by the board of the grocer and directors have said shareholders should vote in favour of the takeover at a meeting due in early October. It means [...]
Amazon plans to open department stores in US August 19, 2021 Amazon plans to open department stores in the U.S. allowing the trillion dollar tech company to expand its physical presence in retail. The company’s flagship retail stores are expected to be located in Ohio and California, an insider told The Wall Street Journal. The new spaces will offer customers access to household goods, clothing and [...]
London Amazon sellers generate £263m monthly revenue in e-commerce boom August 19, 2021 UK Amazon sellers now account for 5.5 per cent of the country’s retail sector’s monthly turnover. Some 13,483 Amazon sellers generate almost £2.5bn in monthly sales, according to analysis from online consumer goods company Trasio. This represented 5.5 per cent of the entire UK retail sector’s turnover in June. London Amazon sellers generate £263m revenue [...]
Inside the crazy, expensive world of whisky miniature collecting August 19, 2021 The founder of The Whisky Exchange is selling his collection of rare and old whisky miniature bottles. The collection will be sold as part of the quarterly miniatures and memorabilia auction at, live until Tuesday 24 August. Sukhinder Singh, who founded the global whisky retailer with his brother Rajbir in 1999, is putting four hundred [...]
Brits abroad: M&S to sell Percy Pigs and other classic products to over 150 countries August 18, 2021 M&S has teamed up with export platform British Corner Shop to sell 800 of its classic food products, including Percy Pig sweets and Luxury Gold Teabags, in an effort to recover its struggling business through online sales. It comes after the British retailer reported a significant annual loss in May, as pandemic store closures weighed [...]
UK inflation drops to two per cent in July August 18, 2021 Inflation in the UK dropped in July, driven by sharp falls in prices for clothing and footwear as retailers sought to stimulate demand by slashing prices amid the traditional summer sale season, according to official figures released today. The Office for National Statistics said prices rose two per cent over the last year, down from [...]
Electra Private Equity to rename as Unbound in hospitality demerger August 17, 2021 Electra Private Equity has reiterated its plans for a spin off of its hospitality brands and will rename the company Unbound Group. Restaurant brands TGI Friday and 63rd+1st will be split away under a new company named Hostmore, with shares given to Electra shareholders. The private-equity investment trust will be left with one remaining business, [...]
Weaker than expected retail sales drags Wall Street down August 17, 2021 US stocks edged down during the open today after official figures showed US retail sales were much weaker than expected in July. The blue-chip S&P 500 dropped 0.55 per cent to 4,455.46 points and the Dow Jones lost 0.83 per cent to fall to 35,328.87 points. The tech-heavy Nasdaq extended the traditional benchmark’s losses to [...]
Collection of rare and unusual single malt whisky to go on sale August 17, 2021 “Prime” and “ultimate” connote excellence, but they also mean first and last. Diageo’s Prima & Ultima collections play with that ambiguity, by bringing together a selection of exquisite single malt whisky, which are also the first or last of their kind. The age and rarity of these spirits would make them enticing enough, but each [...]
Ocado sales dip as pre-pandemic habits return, supermarket data finds August 17, 2021 The UK’s return to normality has been accompanied by a return to pre-pandemic shopping habits, with online and overall grocery sales declining. The latest grocery market share figures from Kantar for the period ending 8 August show that grocery sales fell by four per cent. The latest twelve weeks saw the lowest level of online [...]