InPost, the Amsterdam-listed parcel locker operator, is set to take full control of Menzies, Sky News reports. It bought a 30% stake in July last year and is now in advanced talks to buy the remaining 70% stake in the British logistics business.
The ’rise of Gail’s shows big British appetite for craft bakery,’ says the Financial Times, in a piece featuring an interview with CEO Tom Molnar. Molnar recalls how 20 years ago, the idea of having more than five branches would have seemed fanciful. But it now expects to open 30 branches this year alone (on top of the 150 it already operates). As a result Gail’s has been criticised for ‘displacing independents by selling sourdough bread at scale’. But it’s not a chain, he insists. “We’ve made a commitment only to get bigger if we are getting better. You become a chain when you think like a chain.”
’Should you buy shares in Greggs?’ asks the Tempus column in The Times? After running through the numbers, the conclusion is that, despite plenty of store growth in the pipeline, ‘the price tag on the shares looks too steep’. In contrast the same column suggests Greencore is now a ’buy’, despite shares now being within reach of its pre-pandemic highs.
The UK wine industry is ‘under siege’, warns Wine Society boss Steve Finlan in a piece in the Daily Mail. Finlan echoes previous warnings from the likes of Majestic Wines and Laithwaites in decrying the new alcohol duty hikes, to be introduced in February, which will increase prices and add complexity (to the wine system), through the variable rates for different abv wines.
The ’7-Eleven’s turnaround plan requires heavy lifting to stop Couche-Tard’s $47bn takeover’ of the Japanese-owned convenience chain, Reuters suggests. Parent company Seven & i Holdings is planning to hive off underperforming businesses and focus on the 7-Eleven stores, while ’much depends on the retailer’s ability to roll out a new store format in Japan, and improve profit margins overseas,’ it suggests, citing analysts and insiders.
No comments yet