The hot summer and a recovery in real incomes have given Britain’s struggling retailers a reprieve, with almost all sectors seeing a pick-up in sales after a dismal start to the year, official data showed on Thursday (Financial Times). Healthy retail sales growth indicated rising employment and low joblessness are helping to strengthen the economy despite poor wage growth and a rise in interest rates (Telegraph). Household purchases increased by 0.3pc in August compared with July and rose by 3.3pc on the year, the Office for National Statistics said. (The Gurdian, The Times £).
Drinks group Diageo has warned that its full-year profits will be dented by the recent sell-off in emerging market currencies (Financial Times). The maker of Johnnie Walker whisky, Smirnoff vodka and Guinness said in a trading update ahead of its annual meeting that weakness in emerging market currencies against the US dollar would lower full-year revenues by £175m and operating profit by £45m (Daily Mail). The group still expects net sales growth in the fiscal year 2019 to be broadly in line with last year and “consistent with our medium-term guidance of mid-single digit growth”, chief executive Ivan Menezes added (Telegraph).
Uber is in early-stage talks to acquire the food-delivery app Deliveroo, according to people familiar with the matter, in the latest sign of its ambition to ramp up investment in the sector this year (Bloomberg). The talks, first reported by Bloomberg, come amid intensifying competition in food delivery (Financial Times, The Times).
At 10am on Thursday, the formal opening time, 150 people were waiting to enter the new Jack’s supermarket in Chatteris, Cambridgeshire (The Guardian). “There’s clearly not much to do on a rainy day in Chatteris; that’s why so many people are here,” said Robert, a local resident who said he had come down “to see what all the fuss was about”. The discount store was packed with shoppers when it opened yesterday, with some queuing from 3am (The Times £).
Nestlé plans to spin off or sell its skin health business, in a move that could give the world’s largest food and drinks company a further reason to dispose of its €26bn stake in French cosmetic group L’Oréal (Financial Times). In the latest streamlining measure by Mark Schneider, chief executive, Nestlé on Thursday said it had decided the future of Nestlé Skin Health, which analysts said could be worth as much as $7bn, laid “increasingly outside the group’s strategic scope” (The Times £).
Amazon is putting Alexa in more places, including microwaves, wall clocks, home security systems and cars, as the company seeks to hold off rival voice-powered devices from Google, Apple and others (Financial Times). The American retail industry was bracing itself yesterday for a new onslaught by Amazon, amid reports that the ecommerce giant could open as many as 3,000 high-tech inner-city grocery shops by 2021 (The Times £).
A charity set up by the founder of Unilever and run by bigwigs with strong ties to the company could be crucial in its decision to ditch Britain (Daily Mail).
Poundland is taking over 20 former Poundworld stores, creating 400 jobs. Poundworld collapsed in June, resulting in the closure of all 335 shops and the loss of 5,000 jobs (Daily Mail).
High Street beauty chain Boots is set to take its famous No7 make-up brand overseas to Chinese shoppers (Daily Mail). Boots parent Walgreens Boots Alliance has signed a deal with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba to sell its brands amid soaring demand for international brands in China.
French Connection has blamed tough conditions on the high street and the demise of House of Fraser as it reported a big increase in half-year losses and plans to shut a further eight stores (The Guardian).
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