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 [...]
Digital banks pull ahead of high street rivals in battle for consumers’ wallets August 17, 2021 Digital banks are pulling ahead of their traditional high street rivals in the battle to deliver strong customer services, according to findings from the competition watchdog. The Competition and Markets Authority found that Monzo, Starling Bank and First Direct are the top banks for customer service in Britain. The CMA conducted a survey of 1,000 [...]
Morrisons suitor CD&R gears up to beat Fortress bid August 16, 2021 New York bidder Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) is gearing up to place its counter-bid to the leading £10bn Fortress offer for Wm Morrison supermarkets before its deadline next Friday. CD&R planted the seed for the ongoing private equity bidding war for the British supermarket in June, when it placed a 230p per share offer [...]
City Moves: Who’s switching jobs in the Square Mile this week? August 11, 2021 City A.M.’s Millie Turner provides a roundup of the most important hires and job moves across the City, every Wednesday afternoon. Email citymoves@cityam.com to be featured. Former Tesco director joins London’s Interpath as special advisor London-headquartered firm Interpath Advisory has appointed former Tesco director and retail veteran Christine Cross as a special advisor for the business. Cross’ extensive non-executive and advisory board [...]
Dido’s white flag: Harding to step down as head of NHS Improvement August 9, 2021 Baroness Dido Harding will step down from her role as head of NHS Improvement in October, health authorities have confirmed. The Tory peer, who also led the government’s Test and Trace programme until April this year, has held the role since October 2017. She had applied to become the new chief executive of NHS England [...]
EV charging firm Myenergi ‘mulling £500m London listing’ August 5, 2021 Energy tech firm Myenergi is reportedly making plans for a London float that could value the company at up to £500m amid a surge in interest in “green” solutions. The company, which is best known for its Zappi electric car home charging system, is backed by Sir Terry Leahy, the former Tesco boss. A spokesman [...]
Bringing these wines will make you the perfect dinner party guest August 3, 2021 “Freedom Day” has come and gone and invitations to dinner parties, garden gatherings and long luncheons have come flooding in. It is the “done thing” to bring a bottle for your dinner party host but this can be tricky when you have no idea what is on the menu. If you cannot pair the wine [...]
Aldi increases drivers’ pay amid labour shortages August 1, 2021 Aldi has moved to increase the pay of its drivers in a bid to overcome labour shortages and ensure its supermarkets shelves are not empty. A multitude of factors – including Brexit, high training costs and the pandemic – have led to a shortage of lorry drivers in the UK, threatening supply chains. The Sunday [...]
Pret A Manger mulls expanding into coffee vending machines in move to diversify July 29, 2021 Pret A Manger is set to expand into coffee vending machines. The sandwich chain is joining the trend, according to the Financial Times, to widen its product offering through automated dispensers as the sector suffers from the drop in commuters and staff shortages. Earlier this month, the company’s application to trademark the name “Pret Express” [...]
Tesco Bank pulls plug on all personal current accounts July 28, 2021 Tesco Bank is to close all of its personal current accounts at the end of November after it found that the vast majority of its customers were not using it for their main account. Customers will soon receive a message asking them to withdraw all their money from the accounts before 30 November, and change [...]