Britain’s fourth-largest coffee shop chain, Cooks Coffee, is drawing up plans to list on the London stock market, providing a bright spot amid an ongoing drought of new UK listings. The New Zealand-based firm is listed on the stock market in Wellington but now plans to float on London’s Aquis exchange. (The Daily Mail)
All big supermarkets have now stopped selling disposable barbecues in the light of the risk of wildfires across the UK (The Guardian). Co-op is to temporarily stop selling disposable barbecues in all its stores because of the heatwave (The BBC).
GSK risks a potential legal dispute with Haleon, its recently demerged consumer healthcare business, if a series of lawsuits relating to the safety of the heartburn drug Zantac leads to liabilities. (The Times £)
Haleon’s terrible start to life on the London Stock Exchange has intensified after the consumer health group admitted it may get caught up in a massive lawsuit involving a heartburn drug in the US. (The Daily Mail)
Shares in some of the world’s biggest drugs companies crashed as a series of City analysts’ notes warned of a string of lawsuits in the US over claims that Zantac, and its generic equivalents, was linked to cancer. (The Times £)
The UK’s 40-year high inflation is on course to have climbed again in July despite rising interest rates aiming to choke off price growth. (The Times £)
Takeaway firms off the menu as consumers lose taste for delivery. Deliveroo’s losses have widened as cash-strapped customers cut back on takeaways. Rivals are also struggling in a brutal market. (The Times £)
Another 200 craft breweries opened for business last year, raising fears that the booming sector could go bust if drinkers trade down to cheaper alternatives when the soaring cost of living hits them in the pocket. (The Times £)
Mexico’s president proposes ban on beer brewing as drought intensifies. Mexico’s leader demanded a halt to brewing in the country’s drought-stricken north, blasting the business model of making alcoholic drinks with water drawn from dwindling aquifers to slake thirsts on the other side of the US-Mexico border. (The Financial Times £)
Why UK farms are recruiting fruit pickers from 7,000 miles away. Last year, Ukrainians helped plug post-Brexit labour shortages. With the focus now on Asia, it’s unclear who should police issues such as illegal broker fees. (The Guardian)
The City of London has borne the brunt of restaurant closures in the UK since the onset of the pandemic, with one in seven businesses shutting as the switch to homeworking has hobbled the hospitality sector in the financial district. (The Financial Times £)
Amazon and Waitrose ban customer for complaints and returning too much. Big online retailers are barring shoppers – sometimes for reasons they don’t understand. (The Guardian)
The author Bill Bryson and architects including the Stirling prize winner Steve Tompkins and Mark Hines, the project director for the remodelling of BBC Broadcasting House, have lined up to oppose plans to flatten Marks & Spencer’s store on London’s Oxford Street. (The Guardian)
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