Morrisons’ credit rating has been downgraded after the supermarket reported poor sales and profits in the latest blow for the UK’s fifth-largest supermarket (The Guardian).
The Times (£) picks up a story in Bloomberg that Morrisons’ debt has been sold off at a steep discount after the supermarket struggled to defend its market share from discounters in the initial stages of the cost of living crisis. Banks have offloaded a tranche of the supermarket’s debt at 85 cents on the euro to hedge funds in the latest cut-price debt deal since the company was taken private in October 2021.
Wilko plans to cut more than 400 jobs, including assistant store managers, retail supervisors, head office managers and call centre workers, in the troubled retailer’s latest effort to control costs (The Guardian).
Mowi, the world’s largest producer of farmed salmon, has warned a planned 40% resource tax in Norway will lead to lower investment, job cuts and higher prices for the pink-fleshed fish all over the world (The Financial Times £).
Salmon will become more expensive unless Norway abandons “devastating” new plans to tax the industry, the world’s biggest farmer of the fish has warned. Mowi chief executive Ivan Vindheim said the plans would leave fishermen in the country paying an effective tax rate of 62% and have a “devastating” impact on the industry (The Telegraph).
Heineken pushed up its marketing and sales spend by a fifth last year to €2.7bn as the world’s second-largest brewer sought to lure inflation-hit consumers to switch to more upmarket beers (The Financial Times £).
A year after Heineken promised to withdraw from the Russian market the Dutch brewer has yet to sell its operations, and signalled yesterday that the process would take longer than it had indicated (The Times £).
The owner of Heinz ketchup and Philadelphia cream cheese missed Wall Street’s expectations for the year as sustained inflation raised its costs and prompted customers to look carefully at prices (The Times £).
With a year until Czech firm Allwyn starts operating the National Lottery, pressure is mounting for regulators to block punters from using credit cards to play (The Mail).
Huel adverts that claimed its meal replacement shakes could help consumers save money during the cost of living crisis have been banned after the advertising watchdog ruled they were misleading and irresponsible (The Guardian).
The UK’s annual inflation rate fell for a third consecutive month in January, easing pressure on the Bank of England to raise interest rates, but remained in double digits and near the highest levels for 40 years (The Guardian).
The Guardian also looks at which goods and services have risen most in price across all categories.
A decline in fuel prices was the main factor driving down the headline figure, but this was in part offset by food inflation, which remained at a 45-year high as shortages and soaring energy bills pushed up costs for farmers and producers. The price of food and non-alcoholic drinks has risen by nearly 17% in the past year (The Times £).
Fast food chain McDonald’s is putting the price of five of its menu items up as cost of living pressures continue to squeeze struggling households (BBC News).
Amazon’s plan to continued its bricks-and-mortar push continues to generate column inches, with the Lex column in The Financial Times (£) writing the “ecommerce giant may believe in physical retail but its customers appear less enthusiastic”.
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