Restaurant group Yo! Sushi is poised to announce the purchase of Taiko Foods, a supplier of suishi, Asian food-to-go and dim sum to UK retailers, including Waitrose and Costco. The price has not been disclosed The Times (£).

Sun Capital Partners is understood to be among a clutch of private equity firms considering pouncing on Young’s Seafood, reports The Daily Telegraph. Stamford Partners, the boutique investment house, is handling the sales process which could value the British frozen food giant at up to £300m.

Consumer confidence rose in the first quarter of the year, with signs economic pressures facing Britons over the past year may be starting to relent, according to Deloitte’s latest Consumer Tracker report. Consumer confidence climbed -6% in the first quarter, up from -7% in the previous quarter The Times (£) and Sky News. Meanwhile, the Office for National Statistics is forecast to say on Friday that the UK economy grew by as little as 0.2% in the first three months of the year – half the 0.4% growth of the last quarter of 2017, according to the EY ITEM Club Sky News. The weather appears to have had “a significant impact” but the halving of UK economic growth will prove a temporary blip.

Experts are in disagreement about whether the UK government is focusing its efforts in the right place in the way it is trying to tackle plastic pollution, reports the Financial Times (£). Critics of the government’s approach say a systematic approach is needed rather than “low-hanging fruit”, such as bans on plastic cotton bud and drinking straws.

Four UK winners in the international trade section of the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are expanding their overseas markets by supplying discerning pet owners with products such as fresher, tastier food, supplements and accessories, the Financial Times (£). They are The First Class Pet Company, Simpsons Premium, Lintbells and Company of Animals.

German-based wholesales Metro has blamed Russia for a profits warning. It cited the “further deteriorating geopolitical situation” and “the repositioning of the business” which it said would incur higher extra cost in the second half than previously expected the Financial Times (£). It said negotiations with unions at its German hypermarket operation Real had failed and an interim solution would impact earnings.

China and the US will hold talks on trade and economic affairs in an attempt to stave off a full-blown trade war, reports The Times (£).

Archie Norman, chairman of Marks & Spencer has “jokingly” earned the nickname of Snape after the wizard of Harry Potter fame. The Times (£) suggests the tag is a tad inappropriate because while many regard Norman as a retailing wizard, unlike Snape, he does not lurk in the background. Norman has made his presence felt since he started the role nearly nine months ago. Many of the replacements for almost the entire senior management team are former colleagues and associates, the newspaper points out from Julian Richer, to Sharry Cramond.

The pressure has piled on Marion Helmes, a non-executive director of British American Tobacco, to step down because of claims she has too many commitments to devote enough time to the business, reports The Daily Telegraph. A spokesman for the tobacco company said Helmes had decided to step down from the board of Bilfinger and she would also not seek re-election to another board she sits on.

Delivery by drone could be “on the cusp” of taking off – data from the World Intellectual Property Office for the 2016-17 financial year shows patents filed for technology related to drones hit a new high of 5,301, more than quadrupling from the 1,242 the previous year, The Daily Telegraph.

The Guardian says Whitbread’s full-year figures on Wednesday could hold clues to the future of Costa Coffee and Premier Inn. City sources believe Whitbread’s chief executive, Alison Brittain, is “not philosophically opposed” to hiving off Costa from Whitbread and believes it is a case of “when, not if”.

Elliott, the American vulture hedge fund, now has more than $34bn (£24bn) assets under management and is poised to gain an even greater foothold in the UK, reports The Daily Mail. Elliott has been snapping up stakes in the companies behind some of the UK’s best-known brands, including Whitbread, demanding change, including break-ups, takeover and restructuring.

The Guardian reports on “the slow death” of the newsagents trade in the face of competition from petrol stations, supermarkets and “the monopolistic nature of newspaper distribution”. The National Federation of Retail Newsagents on 11 April called on the Competition and Markets Authority to examine the news supply chain.

The mini-heatwave, however, has provided a shot in the arm for retailers with an upsurge in ice-cream, barbecue food and sun lotion, reports The Guardian. It says sales of sun cream jumped almost 400% last week, burgers and other barbecue-style food climbed 270% at Waitrose, and orders of rosé wine surged 54% at Waitrose, while Sainsbury’s said it expected a 30% increase. Sainsbury’s was expecting a 150% jump in sales of ice-cream and 365% in barbecue coals at the weekend. Tesco expected to sell more than 8m sausages, 2m punnets of strawberries and 3m ice-lollies. Waitrose said it expected a 300% rise in sales of ice cubes and a 150% rise in beer this weekend.

The Business Energy and Industrial Strategy committee has warned a no-deal Brexit would be “disastrous for the UK food and drink industry. The MPs said a European Union free-trade deal should be the number one priority reports the BBC.

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