pound money economy web

Economic growth slowed dramatically in the third quarter of the year amid weaker consumer spending and supply chain bottlenecks, according to the first official estimate of output (The Times £). 

Britain’s economic growth slowed in the third quarter as weak consumer spending and supply chain issues put the brakes on the recovery, according to official figures (Sky).

The UK’s economic recovery slowed sharply between July and September as deepening disruption in supply chains and a shortage of workers held back growth, official figures show (Independent).

WH Smith has predicted that it will return to pre-pandemic sales and “meaningful profit” in 2022 as the easing of Covid restrictions heralds a recovery for the stationery retailer’s travel business (The Times £). 

The return of international travel has put WH Smith on course to ‘return to meaningful profit’ (The Mail). 

Budget retailer B&M suffered a sharp drop in UK sales as a pandemic-induced boom showed signs of slowing following the end of lockdown (The Mail).

The boss of B&M European Value Retail has shrugged off supply chain challenges after stockpiling toys and other festive items in August to mitigate any risk of shortages in the run-up to Christmas (The Times £).

A Thai retail group is working with bankers on a potential bid for Selfridges that could mark the return of Vittorio Radice, who ran the British department store two decades ago (The Times £). 

A Thai-based conglomerate which owns the Italian department store Rinascente is among a pack of suitors weighing multibillion pound takeover bids for Selfridges, the owner of one of Britain’s landmark shopping destinations (Sky). 

The UK hospitality industry has far from recovered to pre-pandemic trading despite tax breaks and increased spending per customer over the summer, the latest sector data shows (The Financial Times £). 

Proposed new legislation giving the government greater powers to secure fuel supplies could help to prevent a repeat of the panic-buying in September, according to ministers. (The Times £).

Frozen turkeys were the product most likely to be in short supply in UK supermarkets earlier this month, according to industry data released amid warnings of a possible Christmas supply squeeze (Sky). 

Youngs has seen revenues rocket despite the forced closure of the British brewer’s pubs at the beginning of the period (The Mail). 

Marcus Rashford is the star of a new Aldi Christmas TV advert styled on Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, as the company pledged to donate 1.8m meals to families over the festive period (The Guardian). 

It’s become an annual TV moment and one of the staples of the holiday season, but this year’s John Lewis Christmas advert is at the centre of a row after a little-known band accused the company of copying their arrangement for its feature song (The Guardian). 

Workers at HelloFresh, the largest meal-kit delivery service in the world, say they are facing an aggressive anti-union campaign led by the company after they tried to organize amid claims of safety issues and poor treatment of workers (The Guardian).