Tesco is to convert unused shop space into mini offices as the supermarket seeks to cash in on demand from home workers (The Telegraph). Client meetings and emails could be picked up alongside a pint of milk and a box of eggs under a new deal between Tesco and flexible office operator IWG (The Guardian). Working from home was so 2020. This year, people want to work from their… local supermarket? So says IWG, the FTSE 250 office landlord, which is opening a new flexible office space at a Tesco Extra in New Malden, south London (The Times £)

Compass Group has hiked its annual sales outlook after the world’s largest catering company saw profits surge almost fivefold (The Daily Mail). Compass Group completed a recovery from the pandemic yesterday as it ended the first half of the year by matching its pre-Covid revenues (The Times £)

Further impetus for outsourcing could come from further government regulations around the world and the push towards net zero. Compass also sees opportunities in vending and in food delivery and from employers enabling employees to order their meals via an app or a digital kiosk. (Sky News)

Compass v Ocado proves bottom-line profits and dividends still matter, writes Nils Pratley in The Guardian. “One old moral of the tale is that hard bottom-line profits and dividends, which Compass, Sainsbury’s and Tesco have but Ocado doesn’t, still matter. Another is that the stock market has a terrible habit of jumping on short-term trends and assuming they will last forever. Life is rarely so simple.” (The Guardian)

A member of the “Tesco eight” sacked over the accounting crisis which engulfed Britain’s biggest food retailer in 2014 has re-emerged at the private poultry empire owned by Ranjit Boparan. Kevin Grace, who was Tesco’s commercial director until his dismissal, has joined Boparan Private Office as managing director of manufacturing operations. (Sky News)

Bakery chain Greggs is facing a potential shareholder revolt over high pay for its executives after criticism by two respected investor advisory groups. Bonus payouts for Greggs’ outgoing chief executive, Roger Whiteside, amounted to more than double his basic salary of £575,209, taking his total package to £1.9m including benefits. (The Guardian)

Instacart, the grocery delivery app that saw an explosion in demand during the coronavirus pandemic but recently cut its internal valuation by 38%, said it had submitted its confidential filing to go public. (The Financial Times £)

Cost of living worries sends consumer confidence into ‘freefall’, says study. Based on 6,000 interviews across the month, the confidence survey measures attitudes to household finances, property prices, job security and business activity. (Sky News)

Households are being urged to get their finances in the best shape possible amid increasing evidence of increased stress over the growing cost of living crisis - now said to be the main concern for people across the UK. (Sky News)

”Why convenience stores are still worth sparring over”, writes The FT. “Convenience stores had a goodish pandemic. More generally, they’ve had a good decade thanks to the decline of the weekly shop and the limited inroads made by rapid delivery services. The sector has been growing ahead of the grocery market.” (The Financial Times £)

In the midst of the equity rout, a group of consumer staples companies — the very staple-est of them — are holding up well. Food companies make up the core of that group. Campbell Soup, for example, is up 8% in a month. Part of the reason the packed-food group is interesting now is that it has outperformed the index massively for years. (The Financial Times £)

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