The private equity-backed management buyout to save collapsed cake chain Patisserie Valerie is unsurprisingly heavily covered in the papers this morning.
Patisserie Valerie has been rescued from administration after its management team and Irish private equity fund Causeway Capital agreed to acquire the café chain, saving 2,000 jobs. (The Financial Times £, Sky News, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail, The Guardian, The BBC)
Patisserie Valerie will have to win back its reputation for selling cakes under its new owners and distance itself from its accounting scandal, the chief executive has said. (The Times £)
The FT’s Lex column writes that “many of the saccharine accounts of what had been saved ignored how much had been lost”. It points out the 900 jobs lost, 71 stores closed, £40m in the accounts unaccounted for, £9.9m of dividends and £4.7m of share options to management paid out on falsified earnings and £450m of shareholder value – based on Patisserie Valerie’s peak share price - destroyed. (The Financial Times £)
Coca-Cola shares suffered their steepest one-day fall in more than a decade last night after the fizzy drinks giant warned that weak sales overseas would damage profits this year (The Times £). Coca-Cola shares were heading for their biggest one-day decline since 2008 on Thursday, after the company warned that sales growth was set to slow this year (The Financial Times £).
Nestlé has boosted organic sales growth for the first time in seven years, driven by a recovery in China and the US, and new healthier products (The Financial Times £). A return to form in the US and China helped Nestlé report its first organic sales growth in seven years as the consumer group’s turnaround took effect (The Times £).
Amazon could be close to trialling its first checkout-free food stores in London in a new challenge to Britain’s highly competitive grocery market, writes The Times (£) citing The Grocer’s story.
Amazon has scrapped plans to build part of its headquarters in New York after succumbing to intense campaigning by local politicians and activists (The Times £). Amazon has abruptly withdrawn its plans to build a satellite headquarters in New York City, citing growing opposition of local elected officials in a shifting political climate (The Financial Times £). Amazon has said it will not build a new headquarters in New York, citing fierce opposition from state and local politicians (The BBC).
Could the rumoured deal between M&S and Ocado to offer grocery deliveries be a costly wrong turn for the High Street stalwart, asks The Daily Mail? Even though the internet is poised to gobble up more of the food market, some retail experts think this is a race M&S should not be entering.
The privately owned German company that holds a majority stake in Pret a Manger is reported to be planning two initial public offerings. JAB Holding, which was founded in 1828 and is controlled by the Reimann family and owns companies including the Jacobs Douwe Egberts coffee brand, Jacobs and Kenco, said it was planning two IPOs over the next two to three years. (The Times £)
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