Stores including John Lewis, Waitrose and Homebase have said they will shut on Monday 19 September, as a sign of respect to Queen Elizabeth II on her funeral (BBC News). Luxury department store Harrods will also close.
Yesterday Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Aldi became the latest to tell shoppers that they would close on Monday, a bank holiday (The Times £).
It is not yet clear if Morrisons plans to close its stores but the supermarket chain was the subject of reports that it had turned off the beeps at its checkouts as a mark of respect to the Queen – something it denied (The Guardian).
The owners of Asda were dealt a blow yesterday after a leading credit rating agency warned about the highly-leveraged supermarket group’s debts after its £600m purchase of Co-operative Group’s petrol forecourts (The Times £).
Fitch downgraded the outlook on the UK’s third-biggest supermarket from ‘stable’ to ‘negative’ and said the £200m borrowed to fund the takeover left Asda with higher debt levels than expected – adding that it would likely not return to a ‘stable’ level until 2024 (Daily Mail).
The Financial Times (£) shines a spotlight on “debt monsters” such as Asda, Iceland, Boparan and Pizza Express. “With rising rates and sagging economies, we look at the companies flashing warning signals,” the paper writes.
There is a risk of food shortages in the UK this winter, experts have said, as the drought and high gas prices put pressure on farmers (The Guardian).
The EU is delaying plans to halve the use of pesticides over fears the move could cut food production and raise prices of critical products in the bloc (The Financial Times £).
Liz Truss is expected to attempt to hold a mini-budget and travel to the leaders’ summit of the UN general assembly in New York next week in the days after the Queen’s funeral (The Guardian).
Mounting inflationary pressures in Europe are putting Tate & Lyle in a sticky situation, analysts have warned (The Times £).
Shoppers may be forced to skip tomatoes, eggs and dairy products in New Zealand, as the country experiences the largest annual spike in food prices in 13 years (The Guardian).
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