Marks & Spencer Food finance director Nick Hewitt has left the chain after little more than a year at the helm, according to Sky News. Hewitt left the company last month, with M&S claiming it was the result of a family decision to return to the US. His exit follows that of CFO Humphrey Singer just weeks ago (Sky News).
Morrisons boss David Potts has come under pressure to boost sales after figures from Kantar showed the grocer is lagging behind its major rivals. Morrisons sales slipped 3% in the 12 weeks to January 27, while market share fell to 10.3% from 10.6% last year (The Telegraph).
Dry January boosted supermarket sales of low and no alcohol beers almost 40%, with the industry estimating a total of 4.2m Britons took up the challenge last month. Demand for adult soft drinks also rose 3% during the month (The Guardian).
Meanwhile, Veganuary boosted sales of meat substitutes, such as soya mince and vegetarian burgers 14%, according to figures from Kantar. Lentil sales were up 6% during the month (The Guardian).
However, overall Dry January and Veganuary failed to result in a boost among supermarket sales with all of the Big 4 losing market share. total supermarket sales were up a mere 0.3% in the 12 weeks to 27 January, mainly led by double gigit growth at Lidl, up 11%, and 5.7% increases at rival Aldi (The Times).
The EU has been urged to slap a 25% tax on meat to cover its environmental damage and tackle the climate crisis. A report by research group CE Delft made the recomendation after analysing the costs of greenhouse gas emissions, other pollution and losses of wildlife associated with livestock production. The group estimated that covering these costs would lead to a 40p increase in the price of beef per 100g, resulting in a 25% increase in the price of a regular supermarket steak (The Guardian).
John Lewis new boss Dame Sharon White has made her first top appointmnet at the chain, hiring Nina Bhatia as executive director in a move signalling she may be planning a heavier focus on technology. Bhatia previoulsy led smart home business Hive (The Telegraph).
John Lewis has been recently rocked by a series of high-profile departures after it decided to bring its retail and grocery arms closer together in a cost-cutting move, including those of Paula Nickolds, the boss of John Lewis, and Rob Collins, the boss of Waitrose (The Times).
Meanwhile, White made her maiden speech as she officially took over the helm of the struggling business. John Lewis however, did not release the text of her speech held at one the company’s staff retreats in Berkshire (The Guardian).
Danish beer maker Carlsberg is braced for a major hit in China – one of its biggest growth markets - following the outbreak of the coronavirus which triggered a temporary shutdown of a number of bars and restaurants (The Telegraph).
Argentinian-inspired steakhouse Gaucho aims to make he 400k kilos of steaks it sells every year carbon neutral in an effort to attract more women and a younger crowd (The Telegraph).
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