Boots shop

The sale of Alliance Healthcare has sparked speculation that UK high street chemist Boots could be the next business deemed surplus to requirements by Walgreens Boots Alliance executive chairman Stefano Pessina (The Sunday Times £).

Johnson & Johnson plans to split in two and spin off its consumer healthcare division in an attempt to bolster growth (The Times £).

The Hut Group faces a fresh headache as four former employees in America accuse the online beauty and nutrition retailer of firing them for trying to blow the whistle on health and safety breaches (The Sunday Times £).

’Keep your head down and shut up’, backers warn THG boss Matt Moulding (The Times £).

The Mail on Sunday has unearthed an interview given by Matthew Moulding to a handful of entrepreneurs in May this year just before THG’s share price started to collapse. Moulding said his golden rule was ‘always make investors money’.

Marks & Spencer remained in the papers this weekend, with a feature in The Financial Times (£) asking if the retailer has finally got its spark back.

A business editorial in The Times (£) this morning argues that Marks & Spencer’s good news spells even more gloom for the high street.

There will “definitely” be enough turkeys for Christmas, the British Poultry Council has said (BBC News).

Berry Bros & Rudd, the 320-year old London wine merchant, has benefited from increased spending on fine wines throughout lockdowns and beyond as it reported a jump in sales and record demand for its collecting services (The Financial Times £).

Scotland’s whisky makers admit net zero targets will be hard to hit (The Financial Times £).

A secretive Cayman Islands-based tycoon who has built a combined £5bn stake in two of the world’s biggest tobacco companies is said to believe that the sector has been undervalued because investors have been “spooked” by ethical concerns (The Times £).

Corporate confidence has fallen to a one-year low as businesses prepare to increase prices amid concern about inflation and supply chain disruption (The Times £).