As featured in The Grocer yesterday, the UK competition regulator has designated Amazon as a grocer and placed it under new rules governing the way supermarkets treat their suppliers in the latest regulatory assault on the tech giant’s dominance (The Financial Times £).
The company - which sells groceries online through its Fresh service and also owns upmarket chain Whole Foods - joins 12 other companies that are classed as “grocers” by the Competition and Markets Authority, including Tesco and Sainsbury’s (The Telegraph).
The move means the online technology group will need to follow the code of conduct set by the Groceries Code Adjudicator watchdog (The Times £).
BBC News picks up The Grocer’s story about Colgate toothpaste disappearing from the shelves of Tesco.
The National Lottery operator Camelot is on track to retain its lucrative licence after it won the endorsement of the gambling regulator, The Telegraph reveals.
Higher prices helped to cushion profits at PZ Cussons from declining sales of handwash and sanitisers as demand slipped compared with the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic (The Times £).
Unilever’s embattled chief executive, Alan Jope, has received a boost after one of the consumer group’s biggest shareholders said that he was right to consider a £50bn deal for the healthcare brands of GlaxoSmithKline (The Times £). Nick Train, a key figure at Lindsell Train, suggested the widespread attacks on Jope were “unfair”.
GSK made £1.4bn from Covid-related medicines last year, beating forecasts in its first financial results since rejecting Unilever’s £50bn buyout offer in December, as chief executive Emma Walmsley pledged a “step-change in growth” in a landmark year (The Guardian).
The pharmaceutical giant saw its operating profit decline by around £1.6bn year-on-year to £6.2bn in 2021, which it largely blamed on the offloading of consumer brands like Horlicks and its shares in Hindustan Unilever (The Mail).
GlaxoSmithKline has set out ambitious financial targets for a “new era of growth” before the “landmark” separation of its consumer healthcare business this summer (The Times £).
Dame Emma Walmsley has opened the door to a sale of GlaxoSmithKline’s consumer arm after it rejected a £50bn takeover bid by Unilever (The Telegraph).
As reported by The Grocer yesterday, the boss of the Co-op’s food division is taking a four-month break to support her sons during their exams (BBC News).
Jeremy Clarkson has backed farmers protesting against a plan to ban meat and dairy from council events, calling it “utter, utter madness” (The Times £).
Uber Technologies reported its second quarterly operating profit last night as demand for its ride-hailing service approached pre-pandemic levels and its food delivery business turned profitable for the first time (The Times £).
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