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The food and drink industry today launched a major campaign to try to kill off George Osborne’s sugar levy before it can even get off the ground.
More than a dozen trade associations and companies representing thousands of businesses across the UK called on new PM Theresa May to ditch the levy, claiming it would do little to tackle obesity but would lead to higher prices for the public and thousands of job losses.
Organisations involved in the campaign - dubbed Face the Facts, Can the Tax - include the British Soft Drinks Association, the FDF and the NFU.
The launch comes days after a report by Oxford Economics, commissioned by the BSDA, claimed the levy would lead to a loss of more than 4,000 jobs across the UK and a decline of £132m in economic output.
Morning update
It’s a typically quiet mid-August morning with no market news of note.
The financial markets are not on holiday though and the pound sank close to the 20-plus year lows against the dollar recorded in early July, falling 0.5% yesterday to $1.287.
The fall is ahead of a raft of economic news to be published in the UK this week which could point towards the negative economic impact the Brexit vote has had on jobs, inflation, retail sales and public finances.
The FTSE 100 has edged down 0.2% this morning to 6,924.3 but remains 11% up year to date.
Its started as another tough day for the supermarkets. Marks & Spencer (MKS) is down 1.1% to 345p, Sainsbury’s (SBRY), down 1% to 232.6p, Morrisons (MRW) down 0.8% to 189.3p and Tesco (TSCO) down 8% to 156.6p.
Other movers include (OCDO), down 1.5% to 284.2p, Applegreen (APGN), up 2.5% to 368p and Real Good Food (RGD), up 2.4% to 31.75p.
Yesterday in the City
The pound may be slumping (see above), but the FTSE 100 continues to go from strength to strength as many of its firms benefit from export opportunities and the boost from currency translation given the weak pound.
The FTSE 100 was up another 0.4% to 6,941.2pts yesterday.
The supermarkets had a difficult day after research suggested the fierce price war had pushed their collective sales below £100bn for the first time in six years.
Tesco (TSCO) was down 1.7% to 157.8p, Marks & Spencer (MKS) down 1.6% to 348.8, Sainsbury’s (SBRY) down 1.1% to 235p and Morrisons (MRW) n 0.9% to 190.9p.
There was little movement in the fmcg sector’s biggest FTSE 100 names, but in the FTSE 250 and below there was plenty of positive momentum.
Conviviality (CVR) jumped 4.4% yesterday to 231.5p, Majestic Wine (WINE) was up 3.6% to 425.5p and Premier Foods (PFD) continued its more positive share price run, rising 3.5% to 51.75p. Britivic (BVIC) was also up by 1.3% to 650p.
In wider retail Sports Direct (SPD) waqs down 3.7% to 297.3p after it agreed to pay back £1m to workers at its Derbyshire warehouse. House goods manufacturer McBribe (MCB) was down 4.3% to 160p.
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