Ocado has said it may reconsider its timetable for expanding capacity in the UK as customers cut back on their online grocery shopping (The Financial Times £).
Even Ocado’s middle-class shoppers must be feeling the cost of living squeeze as the online grocer slumped to a loss of more than £200 million in the first half of this year (The Times £).
Sales slumped at the online retail firm because shoppers are shrinking the size of their orders in response to the rising cost of living and the end of Covid curbs (The Mail).
One of the most senior figures at Marks and Spencer, finance director Eoin Tonge, is to leave the retailer later this year to take up a new role at Associated British Foods (The Financial Times £).
Marks & Spencer’s fraught succession plan has been further complicated by the unexpected departure of its finance and strategy chief, who has been poached by a rival retailer (The Times £). Tonge had been due to complete a “triumvirate at the top” alongside Stuart Machin, the new chief executive, and Katie Bickerstaffe, the co-chief.
Tonge had been handed new responsibilities just weeks ago, having also been named M&S’s chief strategy officer upon the departure of long-time chief executive Steve Rowe (The Mail).
A start-up offering to deliver groceries in less than half an hour has lost its European chief as it battles to break into the UK (The Telegraph). Steven Harman, a former Amazon and Revolut executive who took over at GoPuff’s European arm last year, told staff on Thursday he was leaving the business.
Not so long ago it was Britvic that suffered by comparison with Fever-Tree Drinks as its nimbler rival churned out profit upgrade after profit upgrade (The Times £). Now the boot is very much on the other foot. While Britvic continues to deliver a robust performance, its rival has switched, at least for now, to downgrades and profit warnings.
Amazon has agreed an all-cash deal to buy US healthcare provider One Medical for $3.9bn as the ecommerce giant furthers its push into the medical industry (The Financial Times £).
The technology group is to acquire 1Life Healthcare, owner of One Medical, a membership-based practice providing health benefits to employees of about 8,000 companies (The Guardian).
Two of the UK’s leading pub operators have warned that high inflation and the cost of living crisis are likely to hurt their businesses for the long term (The Financial Times £).
China’s middle-class consumers are fanning a new craze as they adapt to tougher economic times: a rush to buy soon-to-expire food and drink at deep discounts (The Financial Times £).
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