Lidl has won record market share among UK shoppers, according to The Telegraph. The German retailer has recorded its largest share of Britain’s grocery market since its UK debut 30 years ago, with shoppers turning to the discounter as supermarket bills go up, thanks to grocery price inflation increasing by 5.2%, the highest level since January 2024.
The Guardian also went big on the inflation angle, pointing out that consumers are expected to switch to cooking simpler meals at home to save money, as rising food prices threaten to add nearly £300 a year to household grocery bills – which are currently at £5,283 a year – according to research. Shoppers are increasingly picking up supermarket own-label products to help manage their budgets, according to the research company Worldpanel.
The same publication also reported the news that BrewDog is set to close 10 bars amid an “extremely difficult” time for hospitality industry. James Taylor, the chief executive of the brewer, told staff in an email that it was no longer viable to keep the bars open. They are its flagship location in Aberdeen, plus Brighton, Camden, Dundee, Leeds North Street, Oxford, Sheffield, Shepherd’s Bush, Shoreditch and York. Taylor, who took over as chief executive less than five months ago, said that “despite our best efforts”, it was not able to make the bars viable “due to their size, location and other limiting factors”.
Meanwhile, the world’s largest catering group is set to boost its operations in Europe after agreeing to buy Vermaat, a Dutch rival, for €1.5 billion (£1.3 billion), reports the Times, the Daily Mail, and other publications. Compass Group is buying Vermaat from Bridgepoint, the London-listed private equity firm, in what would be the biggest deal on record for the FTSE 100 group.
Through the purchase of Vermaat, Compass, whose operations span schools, airports, hospitals, sporting events and military bases across 30 markets, is aiming to replicate the breadth of its offerings in the United States, its biggest market, by expanding its premium services in continental Europe. Vermaat, which was established in 1978 in Utrecht and is known for Stach, the popular Dutch coffee chain, runs more than 700 outlets in the Netherlands, France and Germany — key growth markets for Compass. It is on track to generate sales of about €700 million this year with a double-digit operating margin.
Another story that caught the imagination of multiple outlets, including the Mail, was the news that Coca-Cola has confirmed it’s changing the recipe for its signature fizzy drink after an intervention by Donald Trump. The drinks giant will launch a Coca-Cola in the US this autumn that will be made with real cane sugar rather than high-fructose corn syrup.
Food firms have scrambled to change ingredients and include healthier substitutes amid health secretary Robert Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again campaign. “I’d like to thank all of those in authority at Coca-Cola. This will be a very good move by them – You’ll see. It’s just better!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform last week. Coca-Cola confirmed the move yesterday as it revealed revenues rose 2.5 per cent to £9.4billion in the three months to June 27.
Staying in the US, Hershey has told retailers it will be taking a double-digit price increase on average across its confection portfolio due to a surge in costs of cocoa, a company spokesperson said on Tuesday, according to Reuters. The maker of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups declined to comment on the specifics of the pricing action as discussions with its retail partners are underway.
The news agency also reported that Marlboro maker Philip Morris International missed second-quarter revenue expectations on Tuesday as shipments of its ZYN nicotine pouches disappointed. Shares in the world’s largest tobacco company by market capitalization dropped about 7% in New York trade even as the company raised its full-year profit guidance.
And finally, Reuters also served up the news that Canadian provinces’ boycott of US spirits amid a trade dispute with the United States has caused a sharp drop in sales of American imports, as well as other imported and domestic spirits across the nation, a Canadian liquor trade group said on Tuesday. Sales of US spirits in Canada dropped 66.3% between 5 March, when provinces announced they would stop carrying the products in retail stores, and the end of April, according to an analysis by Spirits Canada.
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