Tesco is beginning to push suppliers for price cuts in an early sign that rampant increases in the cost of a weekly shop will finally begin to ease (The Sunday Times £).
Tesco is set to report a fall in profits this week as it battles to attract cash-strapped shoppers struggling with soaring grocery bills. Analysts estimate that Britain’s biggest supermarket made profits of £1.8bn last year – down from £2.2bn in 2021 – despite sales that are expected to have risen by about 10% (The Mail on Sunday).
Poundstretcher is eyeing a stock market float, according to City sources. The discount shopping chain is understood to have hired advisers to look at listing in London after sales boomed during Covid. In February, the group, which was set up in 1981, said it planned to open another 50 stores across the UK this year (Mail).
The new owner of collapsed cannabis firm Love Hemp plans to float the group on the London Stock Exchange within the next three months. Portillion Capital, which bought Love Hemp out of administration in February, has put in place a new board and signed a global sponsorship deal with boxing group Ultimate Fighting Championship (The Mail on Sunday).
Unilever needs to sharpen up operationally and demonstrate how its strategy for buying and selling businesses adds value, a large shareholder has said (The Times £).
UK supermarkets have been accused of encouraging people to consume more sugar, despite the huge concern about its significant role in causing obesity, rotten teeth and type 2 diabetes. In a report, the scientific research group Action on Sugar and environmental charity Global Feedback condemn leading supermarkets including Tesco, Aldi and Waitrose for increasing the amount of sugar people consume, while pretending to be committed to helping them adopt healthier diets (The Guardian).
The cost of Easter has soared by nearly a quarter compared with last year, as inflation hits popular items including chocolate eggs and hot cross buns, analysis by the Labour Party suggests (The Guardian).
UK consumer spending increased last month but lagged far behind inflation, according to data published on Tuesday, as households continued to cut back on purchases in the face of high energy bills and other cost pressures (Financial Times £).
Shoppers spent more on food and grocery items at the start of the year as they faced double-digit inflation for basic goods (The Times £).
Britons cut back on food shopping and dining out last month, but spent more on streaming subscriptions (The Times £).
UK consumers cut back on groceries, clothes shopping and eating out last month but streaming and pay TV subscriptions jumped as cash-conscious viewers switched to nights in (The Guardian).
Twinings has cut the size of its packs by a fifth, but Morrisons has raised the price by 69p on its shelves. The tea brand has slashed the size of packs of many of its bestselling teas, bringing them down from 100 to 80 bags. The 300-year-old company said it had lowered the recommended retail price of the new packs so shoppers would not have to pay more per bag (The Telegraph).
Britain’s biggest investment platforms have thrown their weight behind a campaign led by Marks & Spencer chairman Archie Norman to boost shareholder democracy (The Mail on Sunday).
The interim chief executive of Reckitt has been paid almost £200,000 in benefits, mostly relocation costs, after the former big tobacco boss was promoted to run the consumer health and hygiene company last year (The Times £).
The boss of Gail’s Bakery, Tom Molnar, tells The Times (£) in an interview over the weekend that he has ambitions to double the total shop count of the chain.
The government is set to consult on banning flavoured single-use vapes in England and has announced new funding for a task force to crack down on retailers targeting teenagers, as concern grows among health officials over a surge in underage e-cigarette use (Financial Times £).
An editorial in the Telegraph argues that John Lewis’s happy-clappy partnership model has become a millstone. “For all their virtues, worker-owned businesses have fatal weaknesses,” the paper writes.
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