Aldi is big news across many outlets this morning, with The FT reporting that its annual profits more than tripled in the UK last year, despite a fall in grocery market share in recent months. The chain, which has just over 1,000 shops in the country, said pre-tax profits had increased to £536.7m for the 12 months to December 2023, from £152.6m the year before. The Daily Mail, meanwhile, reckons Aldi could overtake Asda and become the UK’s third-largest supermarket as it opens more stores in an £800m expansion drive. As part of its largest ever annual investment, 23 stores will open from now until the end of the year, bringing its total to 1,050 by the end of the year.
Read The Grocer’s coverage of Aldi’s annual results here, here and here.
Aldi has also said the price of a basket of its goods is lower than a year ago despite ongoing grocery inflation, according to The Guardian, as the discount chain tries to fight back against increasing pressure from rivals’ price-matching schemes.
Things aren’t looking so bright over at TGI Fridays, where shares in the UK franchise owner of the restaurant chain plunged more than 90 per cent as it scrapped plans for a £177mn reverse takeover, after the US company lost control of key assets, say The FT and The Times. UK-based Hostmore, TGI Fridays’ largest global franchisee that is listed in London, said on Monday that the TGI Fridays acquisition was “no longer being actively pursued”.
An equal pay hearing affecting thousands of Asda shop workers began yesterday, according to The Guardian. It’s expected to last about three months and look into whether mainly female shop workers’ roles are of equal value to predominantly male warehouse workers who are currently paid up to £3.74 an hour more.
Reuters reports that UK grocery inflation edged lower this month, data from market researcher Kantar showed on Tuesday, after rising for the first time in 18 months in last month’s report. Despite the fall, nearly 60% of UK households remained worried about the rising cost of their shopping, Kantar said.
Meanwhile, former Pizza Express chairman Luke Johnson is back in the game after taking over at struggling Revolution Bars, reports The Daily Mail. Johnson made his name growing Pizza Express in the 1990s and later ran Patisserie Valerie. He’ll join the cocktail bar and restaurant chain as it pushes ahead with a cost-cutting mission.
Carlsberg’s £3.3 billion deal to buy Robinsons squash maker Britvic is being investigated over potential concerns that it could reduce competition across the UK market, says The Independent. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had opened the first phase of an investigation into the tie-up.
Finally, Tennent’s Lager producer C&C Group revealed that first-half earnings were in line with forecasts. The Dublin-based company, whose other products include cider brands Magners and Bulmers, expects to report €39million to €41million in underlying operating profits for the six months ending August, according to The Daily Mail.
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