Sainsbury’s has struck a deal to sell groceries in Australia in its biggest push to enter the wholesale market after agreeing a partnership with Coles, Australia’s second biggest food and drink retailer. (The Times £)

Ranjit Boparan, the food industry tycoon known as the ‘chicken king’ because of his vast poultry production interests, has ousted one of his empire’s top executives as he prepares to put Fox’s Biscuits on the block (Sky News). The billionaire founder of the country’s largest supplier of supermarket chicken has returned to take day-to-day control of his business empire’s poultry division, less than two years after stepping down following a food standards scandal (The Guardian).

Almost all Asda’s 120,000 workers who are paid by the hour have signed new contracts with the supermarket chain ahead of a deadline it extended to midnight on Saturday. (The Guardian)

Payment firms ‘are tightening the screw’ on UK retail sector, writes The Times. One retailer said that the time Worldpay, the biggest player in the payment processing industry, held on to its cash had jumped from one day to eight, meaning that tens of millions of pounds was not in the tills when expected. (The Times £)

A wintry washout dealt a fresh blow to Britain’s retailers, ­putting off would-be shoppers from venturing out on to the high street last month. (The Telegraph)

The boss of the Co-op retail business has called on the next government to combat abuse and violence towards shop workers after revealing that thousands of employees have become victims since a consultation closed in the summer (The Times £). A survey of over 4,000 retail staff by shop workers’ union Usdaw, found that around two-thirds have experienced verbal abuse, while 41% were threatened by a customer and nearly 5% were assaulted (The BBC).

The German discount giant Lidl is set to ramp up the pressure on the big four supermarkets with bold plans to open another 230 stores. (The Times £)

Sainsbury’s has been accused in court of reneging on a £7million deal to build a new store. A court heard the chain had ‘gone cold’ on the plan in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire as competition in the retail food sector intensified. (The Daily Mail)

Agronomics, which is chaired by Innocent Drinks founder Richard Reed, is raising £20million to take a major bite out of the lab-grown meat sector. (The Daily Mail)

Pizza Express lenders are demanding a cash injection of at least £100m despite its Chinese owner attempting to turn down the heat on the restaurant chain by buying back tens of millions of pounds of debt. (The Telegraph)

Tesco has relaunched its Clubcard loyalty scheme with a subscription option, as the UK’s biggest supermarket group looks to gain an edge in the fiercely competitive sector. (The Financial Times £)

The chairman of grocery chain Wm Morrison is set to take the same role at gambling giant Flutter Entertainment as it closes in on an £11bn merger. (The Times £)

Britain will avoid a recession this year thanks to strong consumer spending and a robust services sector, official figures are set to reveal (The Times £).

The annual accounts of Clintons are overdue as the greetings card chain seeks approval from landlords for a restructuring and closure of stores (The Times £). Clintons warned landlords that it urgently needs to shut 66 shops and cut the rent on hundreds more to stave off collapse (The Times £). Clintons, the greetings card chain, plans to shut one in five of its shops and is demanding cuts to rent on most of the rest (The Telegraph). Greetings card chain Clintons is considering shop closures and rent cuts as part of a survival plan (The BBC).

The FT has an interview with Mars chairman Stephen Badger on how he looks to balancing profit with creating value for society and has a formula to give the private family group a wider say on public issues. (The Financial Times £)

Walmart will report third-quarter earnings at a time when the retail behemoth has benefited from heavy investments in its ecommerce business and a strong performance in the US. (The Financial Times £)

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