It’s been another busy week on The Grocer!
The biggest bombshell was the news that the Treasury is bailing out PackUK to cover the shortfall from its new EPR tax. It’s a story The Grocer has covered from every angle over the years and we’re proud of the work we’ve done to highlight all the issues it’s thrown up, including a further investigation this week into how producers have been dodging the EPR tax. It’s also the subject of my leader, in which I highlight The Grocer’s role in ensuring that compliant companies did not have to pick up the tab.
We were also out in force at the NFU Conference this week, where the government pledged £345m to support farmers. In typically forthright fashion the NFU made a passionate plea to the government to stop the decline in domestic food production. And there was also a rare interview with NFU director general Terry Jones, the NFU’s ‘reluctant warrior’ as we dubbed him, reflecting on his 10 years in the role.
Our comprehensive coverage of Diageo’s half-year results, the first under new CEO Dave Lewis, was another highlight. From slashing Diageo’s dividend to calling out its off-trade service as “really very poor” and sending the share price crashing, ‘Drastic Dave’ has so far lived up to his billing. Wednesday’s 13% dip eclipsed that seen when the shock profit warning back in 2023 derailed Debra Crew’s tenure before it had even begun in earnest. Despite his protestations that spirits consumption is broadly stable and cost of living pressures rather than structural decline in alcohol is behind Diageo’s malaise, Lewis has clearly got a herculean task on his hands.
This week’s cover feature is our annual Big 30 ranking of the UK’s biggest wholesalers. As the industry faces into numerous headwinds, we examine the issues and the solutions that wholesalers are deploying.
And we also look at the impact of new nutrient profiling modelling proposals on the fruit juices & smoothies market. One source put the situation bluntly. “Fruit juice makers are mad as hell about the proposed new nutrient profiling model.” This story could run and run.
Another positive development is the news that retail crime has dropped. The BRC’s crime figures are frustratingly out of date even when they’re newly published, so it was good to see the Co-op providing updated retail crime figures of its own showing the biggest fall since the pandemic. Having said all this, we pointed out that there’s still a huge amount of work to be done to tackle retail crime.
Obviously the Trump tariff update has created fresh uncertainty for exporters. But it’s not just over the pond that issues international trade is being impacted. We may now have a Gibraltar Treaty – normalising relations between the territory and Spain after 10 years of Brexit uncertainty, but as we report this week, the new rules – which mandate food sold on ‘The Rock’ has to conform to EU regulations – means Gibraltar retailers, including Morrisons, could see shortages of some products.
And finally, we liked this stunt from Little Moons asking fans to vote for its next flavour launch. Obviously it’s an old PR trick (think ‘Do Us a Flavour’, for example), but for the mochi ice cream maker, which has used PR so effectively in the past, it’s good to see they’re back on the front foot, PR-wise, after a horror show of bad publicity.
But those are some of my faves. And we would love to know your thoughts on our coverage. Or is there anything we’ve missed? We’re all ears!
Get in touch via LinkedIn or adam.leyland@thegrocer.co.uk.
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