The Mail on Sunday has reported that the UK’s biggest supermarkets are being “taxed to oblivion”. The cost of business rates to the big four has soared by £500m in the past five years, according to new research conducted for the newspaper by supermarket sources and business analysts. The costs were driving the retailers towards more closures, the paper added. The rise in bills has taken the annual demand handed to Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons to £1.8bn a year.
Aldi and Lidl are plotting to open five times as many new stores as the big four, according to The Sunday Telegraph. The discounters have lodged planning applications for 171 new stores, compared with just 29 between all the major supermarkets. Aldi has filed 93 planning applications and Lidl another 78, figures compiled by Barbour ABI showed.
The Telegraph also carries a preview of the results for two other discounters this week. B&M is expected to reveal a 25% boost in pre-tax profits to around £87m for the six months to September and Poundland is forecast to show a drop in pre-tax profits to between £9m and £9.6m from £12.6m the previous year. However, the chain is expected by analysts to have grown sales thanks to 50 new store openings.
Profits at Booths more than halved last year after the group, known as the “Waitrose of the North”, suffered bitterly from food deflation and the supermarket price war (The Telegraph). The Grocer reported last week that sales had dropped at the retailer.
Finally, The Telegraph writes that Black Friday is “not necessarily good news for retailers” as it is expected to cost them £180m in returned goods. The UK is expected to spend £1.07bn on online shopping on the day, up from £810m last year, according to Experian-IMRG.
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