Tesco shares hit an 18-year low last night in the latest sign that the City is “losing faith in the grocery chain”, writes The Times (£). “It has lost its way since, bitten by the rise of Aldi and Lidl, the discounters, and the shift to online and convenience store shopping,” the paper writes. The Telegraph says: “The festive season is an important time in the life of any supermarket retailer, and given Tesco’s recent travails, this Christmas will be more important than most.” The Telegraph adds that CEO Dave Lewis has “no excuses” this Christmas and has no excuses that “investors clearly think Lewis will not deliver a Christmas that is in line with either projections or the rest of the market”.

Thousands of Morrisons workers have begun a legal action against the grocer for not doing enough to prevent a disgruntled employee from stealing their bank account details and publishing them online. Nearly 4,000 Morrisons staff submitted details of their claim to the High Court in London, following a ruling allowing them to pursue a group action against the retailer in what could be Britain’s biggest-ever data security claim. (The Daily Mail)

Higher turkey prices threaten to damp some of the Christmas cheer among US consumers, after a bird flu outbreak hit poultry farms this year. US turkey farmers and egg producers have been hardest hit after avian influenza spread through the Midwest during the spring and summer. (The Financial Times £)

Taittinger is to become the first French champagne house to produce fizz in the UK after investing in a former Kent apple orchard. The company has teamed up with British wine agents Hatch Mansfield and private investors to buy 69 hectares of farmland near Chilham and expects to fill its first bottles in five years (The Guardian).

Meanwhile, The Daily Mail has an interview with Chapel Down CEO Frazer Thompson. Thompson sees a bright future for English wine – and welcomes news that French Champagne house Taittinger has bought land in Kent to make its own sparkling wine. ‘It is fantastic news and a vindication of everything we’ve done over the last 15 years,’ he says. ‘Who wouldn’t take us very seriously indeed now?’ (The Daily Mail)

Walmart will launch a mobile payment app as the world’s largest retailer seeks to trump Apple Pay and other companies competing to secure a foothold in the nascent mobile payment market. The company said the introduction of Walmart Pay would make it the first retailer in the US to offer a mobile payment system that would work across both iOS and Android systems. (The Financial Times £)

In wider retail, The Guardian has a multi-story investigation into the pay practices of Sports Direct. The sports retailer “effectively pays below minimum wage” at its distribution centre as Guardian undercover reporters “find world where staff are searched daily, harangued via tannoy to hit targets and can be sacked in a ‘six strikes and you’re out’ regime”. (The Guardian)

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