Starbucks latest UK accounts gain plenty of coverage across all the papers this morning. The coffee chain’s corporation tax payment of £8.1m almost matches its total contributions paid over the past 14 years.
The Guardian writes that Starbucks still faced criticism for a lack of transparency which made it hard to determine whether it is paying a fair amount of tax. The Telegraph leads its story with the fact that pre-tax profits at Starbucks UK “swelled” by £32m in the year to the end of September to £34.2m – its biggest ever bottom line in the country. It came despite sales falling £3m to £405.6m as Starbucks closed 17 loss-making stores and handed 74 cafes over to franchise partners. The Financial Times adds Starbucks argued that unprofitability in its UK business had been to blame for its historically low payments to the taxman. However, after a slew of criticisms from MPs, it decided to waive one-off tax deductions and relocate its headquarters from the Netherlands to increase headline corporation tax figures.
A business commentary in The Times is particularly scathing about the coffee giant. “At this point, it no longer matters whether Starbucks does the decent thing on tax or not. The perception that it does not is so ingrained it has lost the PR battle,” Simon English writes. “Its statement yesterday bragged that most staff get, or will get, the national living wage. Way to go! A cup of coffee is very cheap to make. The paper cups they are served in are even cheaper. Maybe Starbucks really did only make a profit of £34 million on £400 million of sales. If so, it must be overpaying on something. Certainly not tax.”
The Financial Times focused on the pain of Tesco and its CEO Dave Lewis following the release of the latest Kantar Worldpanel figures. “The start to the festive season is not looking so cheery,” the paper said as sales at Tesco slumped 3.4% in the 12 weeks to 6 December. James Quinn in The Telegraph offers “five ways to get Tesco back on track”. He advises selling off the distracting parts of the business such as Giraffe and Harris + Hoole; realising that focusing on brands would not work; working out how to manage the sizeable estate; being more transparent; strengthening the Tesco brand.
One of the world’s biggest cigarette makers plans to drop the word “tobacco” from its name after more than 100 years in business (The Guardian) (The Telegraph). Imperial Tobacco, which makes Davidoff, Lambert & Butler and Golden Virginia, wants to rename itself Imperial Brands plc next year. Shareholders will vote on the new corporate title at its next annual general meeting on 3 February.
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