The Co-operative Group has agreed to sell its petrol forecourt business to its supermarket rival Asda for £600m, saying it would use the money to reduce debt and open more convenience stores (The Guardian).
The UK’s third-biggest grocer will take on the forecourts, adding to the 320 it already owns, and bolstering the petrol empire of Asda’s owners, the billionaire Issa brothers (The Mail).
Fuel campaigners and motoring groups have sounded the alarm over Asda’s planned £600 million takeover of The Co-operative Group’s petrol forecourts (The Times £). They fear that a further concentration of ownership will lead to higher prices and say the supermarkets’ slow response to falling wholesale oil costs should be a warning to regulators.
John Lewis is to offer free food to all its workers, including temporary staff, during its peak Christmas trading period as a way to help with the cost of living (The Guardian).
The employee-owned company will offer English breakfasts and Sunday roasts between Oct 3 to Jan 6 to staff in shops and distribution centres, including agency workers (The Telegraph)
The surging price of cream and fewer people wanting to eat cakes during the recent heatwaves have prompted a profit warning from Cake Box and a sudden loss of appetite among investors (The Times £).
Bibby Line Group has paid more than £3m in dividends after the family-owned shipping-to-finance company swung back to profit following the sale of its Costcutter business (The Times £).
The owner of Kleenex and Andrex is to power its lavatory paper factories using “green” hydrogen as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushes natural gas prices to record levels (The Telegraph).
One of the world’s great luxury goods conglomerates is a leading new investor in a Swiss company trying to make and sell whole vegan “chicken breasts” to chefs and supermarket shoppers (The Times £).
BrewDog has announced it will close six of its pubs, blaming spiralling costs and a “clueless government” (Sky News).
The market report in The Times (£) focuses on a broker upgrade for WH Smith.
The Lex column in The Financial Times (£) examines how a bumper Russian harvest has made wheat cheaper. “High yields from the Russian breadbasket — along with a partial resumption of Ukrainian exports — have relieved what threatened to be a devastating squeeze.”
Inflation in the eurozone has hit a record high of 9.1% this month amid warnings that interest rates will need to reach 3% to contain Europe’s widening energy crisis (The Times £).
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