Ocado gave short-sellers their biggest profit yet in 2024, The Times writes this morning. Those betting against the online grocer cashed in on its stock market woes and subsequent demotion from the FTSE 100. American hedge funds D1 Capital Partners and Arrowstreet Capital made a £129.9m paper profit on their Ocado short positions last year, according to data from Ortex analytics.
The Times also reports on growing fears from small businesses over government plans to expand workers’ rights. Small businesses intend to curb recruitment and lay off workers in the coming year ahead of the employment rights bill, which will protect against unfair dismissal from the day one of employment, according to a survey by the Federation of Small Businesses.
In more gloomy economic news, The Times reveals nearly a third of mid-sized companies expect to need more financial support this year. As many as 32% of mid-sized businesses expect to need support such as bank loans and government grants to help to mitigate rising costs, according to a survey by accountancy group BDO.
Continuing the theme this morning is Sky News, which writes more than half of private sector firms are planning price hikes to offset tax increases announced in the budget. A British Chambers of Commerce survey of almost 5,000 firms found worries about tax stood at levels not seen since 2017, in a story also reported by the BBC.
Finally, the Independent reports UK businesses employing staff on minimum wage will see their costs jump by £2,367 per worker in 2025 due to pay increases and tax hikes announced in the budget.
Elsewhere, Sky News also looks inside the Fischer Farms site in Norwich – Europe’s biggest vertical farm – and asks whether this is the future of agriculture.
Aldi has beaten Lidl to take the title of the UK’s cheapest supermarket of 2024, reports The Standard. The title looks at research from consumer website Which? tracking thousands of grocery prices across eight of the UK’s biggest supermarkets.
City bosses were paid the average annual UK salary in first three days of 2025, found a piece in the Mail this weekend. The article singled out Tesco CEO Ken Murphy as one of the “fat cats” to earn more on New Year’s Day than frontline staff will for the rest of 2025.
Also in the Mail this weekend, Greggs is tipped to be one of the big winners of the festive period following its ad campaign with Nigella Lawson.
Irish wine is no longer a joke, The Guardian wrote this weekend. More than a dozen vineyards are now producing bottles to emulate those of the terroirs of France, Spain and Italy.
Further afield, The Guardian reports Michelin-starred sushi restaurateur the Onodera Group has paid $1.3m for a tuna in Tokyo. The sum is the second highest price recorded since 1999 at the opening auction of the year in Tokyo’s main fish market.
And finally, Formula One is attracting a new wave of sponsorships from consumer brands, including Kit Kat, which will become F1’s “official chocolate bar” next season, the FT wrote this weekend.
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