Top story:
Fever Tree shares shot up 16% in early trading on the news that Molson Coors is acquiring a stake in the carbonated drinks maker.
Molson Coors is buying a 8.5% stake for £71m as part of a long term partnership in the US.
Under the new partnership, Molson Coors will have exclusive rights to sell Fever Tree in the US and will manage the onshoring of production.
Fever Tree said it will drive a “step change in quality of earnings” over the medium-term, while a cut in capital requirements will improve cash generation and create “incremental firepower” to expand globally.
Full story here.
Morning update:
Sandwich maker Greencore has reaffirmed its full-year guidance following a “strong” first quarter with volumes growing ahead of the market.
Revenues in the 13 weeks to 27 December increased by 7.5% to £474.3m thanks to the 2.6% jump in volumes, new business wins and a 3.5% bump in prices to recover input cost inflation.
On a like-for-like basis, sales were up 4.9%.
Full story here.
English winemaker Gusbourne relied on its direct-to-customer (DTC) sales to boost revenue last year amid tricky trading conditions in both the on and off trade.
Total net revenue was up 1% to £7.1m for the year to 31 December thanks to improved website sales and its on-site wine tasting experience.
UK trade sales fell 9% to £3.1 amid difficult trading conditions.
Full story here.
Liberation Labs has closed a $50.5m fundraise to help it complete construction of its first biomanufacturing plant in Indiana.
Liberation Labs is commercialising precision fermentation to enable the next wave of biotechnology advancements to produce bio-based consumer products at scale.
London listed lab-grown meat investor Agronomics is a key investor and committed $7.4m as part of the latest round.
Retail crime is at its highest level on record, according to new figures released today from the British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) annual crime survey.
Violent and abusive incidents climbed to over 2,000 per day in 2023-24, up from 1,300 the year before.
This is more than three times the number in 2020, when there were just 455 incidents a day.
Incidents included racial or sexual abuse, physical assault or threats with weapons. There were 70 incidents per day which involved a weapon, more than double the previous year.
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