Supermarket wars: Lidl and Aldi gain ground on Tesco as bargain-hunting Brits battle grocery inflation March 28, 2023 Lidl is the UK’s fastest growing supermarket as bargain-hunting Brits turn to the discount grocer during the cost of living crisis. With grocery inflation now at 15 per cent, new figures published by Kantar this morning show value outlets have seen an uptick in sales last month. Sales in the German supermarket Aldi rose 25.8 [...]
North Sea oil and gas firms are struggling despite BP and Shell record profits, industry body warns March 28, 2023 The record earnings of BP and Shell do not reflect the challenges most North Sea producers face from the windfall tax, argued OEUK.
Cheers to that! Diageo chief quits after decade at the top, as firm appoints FTSE 100’s tenth woman CEO March 28, 2023 Spirit maker Diageo has announced its chief executive Sir Ivan Menezes is to retire following ten years leading the firm. The London-listed drinks giant will step aside from the firm’s board in June of this year and be replaced by Debra Crew, who is currently its chief operating officer. Meneze joined the firm from the [...]
Ocado’s ‘M&S’ magic fails to impress as shares trade down despite revenue boost March 28, 2023 Ocado said it had helped by some “M&S magic” as the grocery chain’s joint venture with the high street stalwart boosted sales by 3.6 per cent in its first quarter. Shares in the online grocer were last trading down 1.97 per cent or 8.9p at 443.20p. The up market online grocer, which posted a pre-tax [...]
The Notebook: Victoria Scholar on inflation, Ocado’s woes, and why Ted Lasso is a blessed relief March 28, 2023 The Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has warned firms against rising prices to offset inflation. He told the BBC, “please understand if we get inflation embedded, interest rates will have to go up further and higher inflation really benefits nobody.” The latest UK inflation rate for February surprised economists by picking up again to [...]
Food inflation soars to record 15 per cent as sugar price hike leaves retailers warning of more misery to come March 28, 2023 Shop price inflation is yet to reach its “peak” as the rising cost of sugar and high manufacturing costs present a double whammy ahead of crucial Easter trade, a leading retail body has warned. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) shop price index showed annual inflation accelerated to 8.9 per cent in March, up from 8.4 [...]
Why the Bank of England and Fed could welcome Credit Suisse and Silicon Valley Bank failures March 28, 2023 There’s been reams and reams of wild predictions about whether we’re slipping into another financial crisis, triggered by the collapse of US tech lender Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Credit Suisse’s arranged marriage with its crosstown rival UBS. Blackrock chief Larry Fink even warned in his annual letter to shareholders we’re slipping into a slow [...]
North and South agree: we have to build HS2 from Euston to Manchester March 28, 2023 Delaying HS2 or shortening its railway from Euston will only cost even more money and create another generation of growth stuck behind a red signal, writes John Dickie and Henri Murison, chief executives of BusinessLDN and the Northern Powerhouse Partnership
Andrew Bailey: Our banks are sound – we’ll keep hiking if inflation persists March 27, 2023 The Bank of England will be forced to jack up interest rates again if incoming data shows inflation is not falling fast enough in response to the central bank’s eleven straight rate rises, Governor Andrew Bailey said today. Further pain will be needed to be borne by families and businesses if price pressures keep pinning [...]
Jeremy Hunt’s Parent Trap: Why young City parents are better off earning £99k than £135k March 27, 2023 Some 55,000 parents will miss out on Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s expanded package of childcare support due to earning more than £100,000, new research out today shows. Number crunchers at the research firm the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) reckon 71 per cent more working parents over the next five years will be incentivised [...]