The share price of the meal delivery service Just Eat fell by more than 5% on Thursday after US competitor Uber Eats announced plans to cut the fees it charges restaurants, amid an intense battle for customers in the takeaway sector (The Guardian). Uber Eats will also allow restaurants in 100 towns and cities to use their own delivery drivers on meal orders placed using its app – a marketplace model – alongside its core business, where it provides the delivery service.” Now, the two firms will be competing for exactly the same partners. Just Eat, which is already under pressure from major US investor Cat Rock to improve its performance, has been trying to create its own network of drivers (Daily Mail).
“Fears that Uber could be about to take a bite out of Just Eat’s market share spooked investors,” writes Louisa Clarence-Smith for The Times’ market report (£). “Uber Eats said it would open up its platform to 50,000 restaurants across the UK and Ireland as it seeks to capitalise on the growing food delivery market, which is expected to be worth nearly £10 billion by 2021.”
Kraft Heinz shares slumped on Thursday after the food company cut its dividend by more than a third, took a $15.4bn impairment charge and also disclosed that it had received an accounting subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission (Financial Times £). The food giant also reported a net loss of $12.7bn (£9.74bn) in its fourth quarter, having taken a $15.4bn impairment charge, and slashed its dividend. Shares tumbled 17% on the back of the news (Telegraph £).
The chief executive of Kraft Heinz, Bernardo Hees, says that valuations among its peers have become “more attractive” since its $143bn swoop for Unilever collapsed two years ago, an indication that the acquisitive owners of the food company could soon return to dealmaking (Financial Times £). The company, backed by Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital, has avoided large acquisitions since the Unilever deal fell through and instead completed only a few far smaller bolt-ons.
One of Sainsbury’s leading shareholders has accused the supermarket of “blowing money and credibility” on its planned merger with Asda (Daily Mail). The investor, who wanted to remain anonymous, said it was not a surprise that regulators have effectively blocked the proposed £14bn tie up. And they added that the pledge by Sainsbury’s chief executive Mike Coupe to fight on in a bid to rescue the deal was “a waste of time and money”.
“The decision on the Sainsbury’s and Asda deal will remain hanging in the balance as chairman David Tyler stands down,” writes Nicholas Megaw, for the Financial Times (£). “David Tyler is due to leave on 9 March, to be succeeded by Martin Scicluna, a Deloitte veteran who also chairs RSA. That would have coincided neatly with the CMA’s original timetable, which was for a final decision by 9 March. Sir David could exit Holborn with the ship’s course set, leaving Mr Scicluna to steer it into port.”
The boss of the airport and station food retailer SSP Group has suffered a shareholder revolt over her £6.2 million pay package as she prepares to leave in May after six years (The Times £). Kate Swann, 54, has been paid a total of £22.4 million since she led SSP to a float in 2014. She holds shares worth £40.3 million. At its annual meeting yesterday, 33% of SSP shareholders voted against the remuneration report after the advisory groups ISS and Glass Lewis urged them to vote against “excessive payouts” and bonuses that are tied to one metric, the underlying operating profit.
Asda has been named as worst supermarket for online deliveries as it has emerged that more than half of orders contain substituted items (Telegraph £). The retailer’s online customers told consumer group Which? that it was unusual for them to receive a delivery without at least one item having been swapped for the “next best thing” due to it not being available.
The government should consider “wide reforms” to business rates and planning law to allow Britain’s town centres and high streets to flourish in future decades, a parliamentary committee has said (Financial Times £). The Housing, Communities and Local Government committee, headed by Labour MP Clive Betts, said that without reform formerly thriving shopping areas “are likely to become ghost towns and effectively close down altogether”.
Weaker-than-expected sales in Domino’s fourth quarter and profits hurt by increasing industry competition combined to put shares of the pizza maker on track for their biggest drop in 19 months (Financial Times £).
Johnson & Johnson has received subpoenas from US authorities probing alleged asbestos contamination in the healthcare company’s baby powder products (Financial Times £). The US Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission have sent subpoenas, the company disclosed in a regulatory filing.
The world’s capacity to produce food is being undermined by humanity’s failure to protect biodiversity, according to the first UN study of the plants, animals and micro-organisms that help to put meals on our plates (The Guardian). The stark warning was issued by the Food and Agriculture Organisation after scientists found evidence the natural support systems that underpin the human diet are deteriorating around the world as farms, cities and factories gobble up land and pump out chemicals.
Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman’s holding company, LetterOne, has stepped up its criticism of a turnround plan at Spanish grocer Dia Group as it filed regulatory documents for its own bid to buy out and fix the troubled chain (Financial Times £).
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