One of Britain’s largest petrol station operators MRH GB has picked banks to steer a £1.5bn stock market listing next year. Lone Star Funds has hired bankers at Citi, JPMorgan and Numis Securities to oversee an initial public offering of MRH GB, which trades from about 450 forecourts across the UK. The flotation has been pencilled in for next year, although the exact timing and a final decision about whether to press ahead have yet to be taken. (Sky News)
Tesco’s former commercial director is suing his ex-employer for alleged unfair dismissal. Kevin Grace lost his job when it emerged that Tesco had mis-stated its profits in 2014. He is said to have been accused of gross misconduct and serious negligence in a letter informing him that he had been sacked. (The Times £, The Daily Mail)
A group of dissident Nisa shopkeepers are raising the stakes in a row with the board before a vote tomorrow on a planned £143m sale of the chain to the Co-operative Group. The rebels have accused Nisa chairman Peter Hartley of “storming” out of a meeting in London last week, while a former Nisa director said the Co-op offer contained a “bribe” designed to appease the Nisa masses. (The Times £)
The Co-op’s £143m takeover of convenience chain Nisa is to go to the wire after a series of stormy shareholder meetings before a vote on Monday. Nisa said the feedback from recent shareholder meetings suggested growing support for the Co-op offer but other people familiar with the process expressed concern that it would not secure the 75% share of votes required to succeed. (The Guardian)
Unilever’s Dutch Works Council is threatening to call for strike action across the consumer goods giant’s global factories if potential buyers of its margarine business don’t agree to protect jobs and pension guarantees. (The Telegraph)
The FT looks at how Britain lost its taste for Marks and Spencer’s food, writing: “Like its clothing ranges, M&S food has simply failed to keep up with the times. Quiches, Brie and cranberry tartlets, Mediterranean roasting vegetables and mini canapés all went out with shoulder pads.” (The Financial Times £)
For the past two months, Marks & Spencer managers have been on the alert for the unannounced arrival of a sharply dressed man in his sixties carrying a battered leather holdall. Since taking over as chairman of the much-loved, though perennially struggling retailer, Archie Norman has been up to his old tricks — dropping in on staff meetings, surveying distribution centres and scrutinising the books of the chain’s 999 shops. (The Times £)
Andy Clarke, the former Asda boss, has taken his first director’s job since stepping down last year after two decades with the Walmart-owned grocer. The ex-supermarket boss is becoming non-executive chairman of Spoon Guru, a small technology start-up which allows consumers to search retailers’ produce according to their specific dietary needs. (The Telegraph)
One of the UK’s largest dairy producers has warned that a badly handled Brexit could lead to price hikes for food, and scarcity in the shops from April 2019, with dairy and meat products particularly hit. Gabriel D’Arcy, the chief executive of LacPatrick in Strabane in Northern Ireland, complained that ministers were too focused on financial services and were putting the country’s food security and food standards at risk. (The Guardian)
A British subsidiary of Cadbury’s American owner paid no tax last year, despite making a £2.1bn profit. The accounts for Vantas International, ultimately owned by the Toblerone-to-Ritz maker Mondelez, show that £442m of income — about what it would have paid in corporation tax — was not subject to tax. Mondelez declined to elaborate on why there was no levy on the income. (The Times £)
One of the UK’s biggest bakers has warned that it is making “unsustainable losses” as Britons’ appetite for bread wanes and costs rise. Bread remains one of the most popular items on weekly shopping lists, but the trend for low-carb diets, concerns about gluten and an increase in alternatives to the lunchtime have all hit sales. (The Guardian)
Bakkavor, the chilled foods supplier to Tesco, Marks & Spencer and other big grocers, has shocked the City by floating on the stock market with a value of just over £1 billion, only a week after pulling the IPO blaming market volatility. (The Times £)
Retail sales are headed for their first annual decline in more than four years as consumers continue to feel the squeeze from rising inflation. Figures from the Office for National Statistics on Thursday are expected to show that sales volumes last month were down 0.5% on a year earlier, according to City forecasts. (The Times £)
The high street’s hope for a bumper Black Friday might not be enough to rescue pre-Christmas trading after a dismal start to its end of year sales (The Telegraph). UK retailers had a bleak October as shoppers shunned stores and cut back on spending, raising fears over the health of the UK economy (The Guardian). The number of High Street shops closing down has fallen to its lowest level in seven years, research suggests (The BBC).
Impossible Foods, a company backed by Bill Gates that promises to make veggie burgers palatable for carnivores, has secured distribution from top US restaurant suppliers in deals that will test the ambitions of Silicon Valley start-ups to disrupt America’s meat industry. (The Financial Times £)
The long-running battle over the Stolichnaya vodka brand will come to a head this week as a court in the Netherlands prepares to rule on its European ownership. (The Telegraph)
Oprah Winfrey made her first billion dollars from becoming the undisputed queen of American television. Now the presenter-turned-media tycoon has turned canny investor, making a $400 million profit from her stake in Weight Watchers in little more than two years. (The Times £)
A reshuffle in the upper echelons of LVMH last week marked the biggest management shake-up in luxury in years. The changes reflect how chief executive Bernard Arnault is looking to a younger generation of leaders and positioning LVMH, the world’s largest luxury group by revenues, for the next chapter of growth. (The Financial Times £)
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