John Lewis’s full-year loss has widened after sales fell and the UK retailer failed to slash costs, pushing the group to waive its staff bonus and warn of further job cuts (Financial Times £).
The embattled retailer will not hand its staff, known as partners, a bonus for only the second time since 1953 (Mail).
The employee-owned group posted a loss before exceptional items and tax of £78m for the year to January 28, down from a profit of £181m a year earlier. Analysts had forecast a smaller loss of £50m (The Times £).
Sharon White, the chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, warned of job losses to come as she said “inflation hit us like a hurricane”, with higher freight, energy, labour and fuel bills adding £180m in costs (The Guardian).
The retailer unveiled new plans to strip £600m of extra costs out of the businesses within the next few years, having already cut £300m since the end of 2020 (Telegraph).
Deliveroo fell to a loss of almost £300m last year but is adamant that it is making “excellent progress on [its] path to profitability” (The Times £).
But, the operating loss for 2022 was still 15% smaller than the £290.1m loss it recorded a year earlier (Mail).
The Tempus shares column in The Times (£) says that like many of the cash- guzzling, high-shooting companies of its ilk, Deliveroo’s promise of profitability is laden with caveats. The paper gives the stock an ‘avoid’ rating. “A lowly share price is a better reflection of the reality for Deliveroo’s prospects.”
Cadbury has shrunk the size of bags of Dairy Milk buttons by almost a quarter while keeping prices in supermarkets the same [as first reported by The Grocer]. The company has slimmed down ‘Big Share’ bags of the circular treats down to 184.8g from 240g - a 23% reduction (Telegraph).
The Lex column in the Financial Times (£) argues that moving British American Tobacco’s listing from London to ths US is “not a batty idea given valuation gap with rivals”. Although, the paper points out that upping sticks is not, in itself, a fail-safe way to light up a stock
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