Asda owner Walmart warned earnings next year would be flat and it was slowing the pace of store openings in the US (The Financial Times). The world’s largest retailer highlighted intense competition in retail across the globe as the warning put a dampener on its share price. At its annual investor day on Thursday, the company said it had cut its profit forecast for the next two years – where it had previously expected growth – after deciding to push deeper into online sales (The Times).
Mars has bought out Warren Buffett’s minority stake in its Wrigley subsidiary. The deal, in which the maker of M&Ms and Snickers bars will buy the remaining 20% in the chewing gum group held by Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, will solidify Mars’ leading position in the $177bn global confectionery market, writes The FT. Berkshire Hathaway acquired the holding when it went in with Mars to buy Wrigley’s for $23bn in April 2008 (The Guardian).
The pound fell to its lowest level in 31 years yesterday as fears grew about the likelihood of a “hard Brexit”, reports The Times. Alex Brummer in The Mail writes: “The Prime Minister has been given a crash lesson this week on the workings of financial markets. By pledging to the Conservative Party conference that Article 50 would be invoked in March next year, she in effect kicked away the superstructure that has prevented the pound going into freefall.”
Finally, all the papers have picked up on the ‘mysterious’ freefall of the pound this morning. Sterling suffered a sudden fall of more than 6% within two minutes against the US dollar early today before recovering most of its losses, amid concerns over the UK’s exit from the EU (The FT). The shortlived drop sparked speculation that it could have been triggered by a mistaken “fat finger” trade or a rogue automated algorithm.
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