The surge in online food shopping has prompted Ocado to tap investors for £1bn to build more of its robotic warehouses (The Times £). Online supermarket Ocado is to raise more than £1bn of fresh equity and debt as it seeks to capitalise on a surge of interest during the coronavirus crisis (The Financial Times £).

Ocado’s major fundraising bid will enable it to rapidly expand both its own internet sales operation and the production of robot factories for supermarkets worldwide to capitalise on surging demand for home deliveries (The Telegraph). The £1bn it planned to raise will be used to increase capacity with existing partners as well as enabling it to quickly add new clients by buying new warehousing space and installing new robots to gather orders (The Guardian). The cash would give it firepower to respond to a boom in demand during the virus crisis (The Daily Mail).

Just Eat Takeaway, the European food delivery app, has agreed to acquire Chicago-based Grubhub for $7.3bn in stock in a deal that could create a world leader in online delivery (The Financial Times £) The £15bn merger will make the UK-listed company a powerful global force in the food delivery market (The Times £). An agreement would give Just Eat Takeaway a foothold in the lucrative US market, that is seen as only continuing to grow at pace in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis (Sky News). If the takeover is completed it will create the world’s biggest food delivery company outside China (The BBC).

The deal starves Uber and its Uber Eats division of a much sought-after in-market consolidation opportunity that it had been pursuing for months. But neither Uber or Grubhub could settle on terms that would give them comfort to navigate a thorny regulatory review. (The Financial Times £)

Supermarket chain Morrisons faces an investor rebellion at its annual meeting on Thursday amid simmering controversy about its executive pay policy. (The Financial Times £)

Morrisons CEO David Potts is interviewed in The Guardian. He says: “Our people are the new rock stars. They are working with the British public and doing their thing in society… All our colleagues have been putting their bodies on the line every day going to meet members of the public. We provide the most important thing outside of public health.” (The Guardian)

The extraordinary take-up of Bounce Back loans will result in ‘absolutely massive bad debts’ for taxpayers, a think-tank told MPs. As official figures revealed firms have borrowed almost £24billion under the scheme in just over a month, Giles Wilkes, senior fellow at the Institute for Government, said the vast sums being dished out ‘raises an incredible red flag’. (The Daily Mail)

The battle for European market share among plant-based meat groups is set to heat up, as Beyond Meat embarks on an “aggressive” pricing strategy and talks with fast-food chains about offering its products in the region. (The Financial Times £)

High street retailers have attacked government guidance, designed to help coronavirus-virus hit businesses, as “miserably inadequate” for not affording them enough protection from landlords. (The Financial Times £)

Americans are opening their wallets as they emerge from lockdown, with data showing US consumer spending picked up in May and even the hardest-hit retailers reporting that sales improved by more than they expected. (The Financial Times £)

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