The chief executive of Tesco Dave Lewis says the supermarket group faces challenges with soggy weather and consumer sentiment, dampening its performance in its first quarter (The Times £). Tesco suffered a slowdown in sales growth in the three months to May but said it had outperformed a “subdued” UK grocery market (The Telegraph). Tesco has reported a sharp slowdown in underlying sales growth, as political uncertainty and volatile weather held back consumer spending (The Guardian). Tesco’s sales growth slows as boss blames weak shopper confidence, dodgy weather and political turmoil (The Daily Mail).
The “ultra-fast” same-day home delivery partnership between Wm Morrison and Amazon has been expanded further across Britain as the race to capture the growing online grocery market gathers pace (The Times £). Morrisons has taken its partnership with online giant Amazon up a gear – a move that analysts say will ‘strike fear’ into the the hearts of its rivals as the £14billion online grocery market continues to evolve at pace (The Daily Mail). Amazon is ramping up the pressure on the UK’s traditional food retailers after signing a deal with Morrisons to deliver groceries across the UK (The Guardian). Morrisons has expanded on its home delivery agreement deal with Amazon, extending its same-day service across the UK this year (Sky News).
The FT’s Lombard column calls Morrisons and Amazon “food retail’s odd couple” that have clicked. “Morrisons in a happier place than rivals, in two ways. First, it is achieving revenue growth without committing large amounts of capital. Second, it is linking food buying to an online loyalty/subscription model.” (The Financial Times £)
Shares in Majestic Wine have fallen sharply after the company suspended its dividend and warned that the sale of its retail chain could slip into 2020 (The Guardian). Majestic Wine shares sour as booze seller swings to a loss amid plans to sell off its 200 UK stores (The Daily Mail). Majestic Wine plunged to an £8.5m full-year loss while it closes in on the sale of its retail store business (Sky News). Majestic Wine has confirmed that it is in advanced talks with “multiple bidders” for its chain of retail stores (The Times £). Majestic Wine is in “advanced discussions” about a sale of its retail stores that would mean the stripped-down group focus exclusively on its online Naked Wines business (The Telegraph).
Marks & Spencer’s tie-up with Ocado is back in the spotlight after M&S received an initial take-up of only 85 per cent for a £600 million rights issue designed to fund the joint venture (The Times £). Marks & Spencer shares in the red as shareholders fail to fully back £600m Ocado deal cash-call (The Daily Mail). M&S has revealed it only received 85% of take-up from shareholders for its £600m fundraising call to bankroll its deal with Ocado (Sky News).
The remnants of Jamie Oliver’s UK restaurant empire have been sold to the company behind Upper Crust in a deal that safeguards 250 jobs (The Telegraph). Jamie Oliver’s last three restaurants have been saved from closure after the collapse of his business, with the outlets at Gatwick Airport bought by SSP Group, which owns sandwich shop Upper Crust and cafe chain Ritazza (The Daily Mail). Jamie Oliver’s remaining UK restaurants have avoided closure, after being rescued by the owner of Upper Crust and Ritazza transit food outlets (Sky News)
Iceland, the frozen food supermarket, said it plans to open 50 more stores in the current financial year, a similar rate of expansion to German discounters Aldi and Lidl, having opened 43 new shops in the year to March (The Financial Times £). Iceland Foods plans to open 50 stores this year after recording a rise in sales on the back of new openings (The Times £). Supermarket Iceland is is joining Aldi and Lidl in the race to expand its store base up and down the country (The Daily Mail)
Tyson Foods, the biggest US meat producer, is launching its own non-meat nuggets and blended burgers in the biggest challenge yet to the start-ups that have driven a once niche dietary trend into the mainstream. (The Financial Times £)
Luxury items such as art, classic cars and fine wine has outperformed shares for the fourth year in a row. Rare whisky topped the charts growing an extraordinary 560% in ten years, and 35% in the last year, according to figures produced by Knight Frank. (The Daily Mail)
Britain’s international cardboard box champion is hoping that it has slammed the lid on short sellers who have been betting on the DS Smith success story folding. (The Times £)
Cargill has warned that global companies will not meet their goal of halting the conversion of forests into farms by next year, dampening optimism for a critical resource to stem climate change. (The Financial Times £)
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