Air Miles, a British Airways subsidiary, has fallen £11m into the red after profits of £8m last year, reported The Business. The reward scheme operator severed ties with Sainsbury last year and began a new deal with Tesco. AirMiles blamed the losses on September 11 as well as a big reorganisation of the business.
Marks and Spencer is said to be back in talks with US food retailer Gristedes over the sale of its Kings Supermarkets Stateside. Kings has been up for sale since 1999 but potential buyers Gristedes and another supermarket group D’Agostino fell through last year due to last minute financing problems.

The prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, has warned Britain of "dire consequences" in the Caribbean islands if Wal-Mart is allowed to take over the Safeway supermarket chain, the Sunday Times reported.
He has written to Downing Street and the Office of Fair Trading to protest against the American giant’s banana-price war. Gonsalves claims that Wal-Mart’s takeover of Asda has already had a detrimental effect on the economy of the islands and warns that the Caribbean banana industry will suffer increasingly if Wal-Mart makes further inroads in Britain.

The paper also said that Waitrose could derail attempts by Hays, the business-services group, to sell its £400m logistics arm. Colin Matthews, the new chief executive, has identified the disposal of the logistics business as one of the quickest ways to raise capital and salvage the fortunes of Hays. But bidders will need to secure the support of Waitrose, which accounts for about 25% of sales in the logistics business and up to 30% of its profits. It is thought Waitrose may try to renew terms of its contract if the subsidiary changes hands.