Sainsbury’s has drafted in consultants to help with the mammoth task of merging with Asda as it awaits a key ruling on the £14bn deal this month (The Sunday Times £). Chief executive Mike Coupe is understood to have called in the management consultancy Bain before Christmas to work on knitting together 330,000 employees, as well as IT systems and disparate parts of the supermarket chains. The move underscores Sainsbury’s confidence in a favourable ruling from the Competition and Markets Authority, which is this week expected to reveal how many shops it will require Sainsbury’s and Asda to sell for the deal to be waved through.
The mega-merger between Asda and Sainsbury’s could be stopped in its tracks if the authorities order the chains to hive off more than 170 stores, say senior supermarket sources (Mail on Sunday). UK competition rules mean the two retail giants could be forced to sell scores of stores to their grocery rivals. But sources said getting rid of so many outlets could prove too painful.
Premier Foods has ditched a plan to sell its Ambrosia custard unit after the chief executive who launched the disposal process stepped down (Financial Times £). Gavin Darby, who was head of the heavily indebted UK food brands group until last month, put Ambrosia on the market in November last year following pressure from activist investor Oasis to restructure the business (The Times £). Industry sources had said that the sale process had become “very quiet” and suggested that rumoured bidders Dairy Crest and yogurt maker Muller were no longer interested in the custard and rice pudding brand (Telegraph £).
Up to six people face arrest over the Patisserie Valerie scandal, it can be revealed (The Sunday Times £). Their names are highlighted in a report by the accountant PwC into the alleged fraud at the cake shop chain. They are said to have signed fraudulent cheques and sent emails discussing fabricating invoices.
Walmart will reveal this week how it fared in its battle with Amazon for Christmas shoppers’ dollars, with some on Wall Street expecting the retailer will report its weakest profit margins in years alongside rising sales (Financial Times £). Despite government data last week that showed US retail sales in December fell the most since 2009, like-for-like revenues at the country’s biggest retailer were expected to have risen about a fifth faster in its crucial fourth quarter than a year ago.
Indra Nooyi’s replacement at the helm of PepsiCo, Ramon Laguarta, has moved to stamp his authority on the drinks and snacks company with plans to make hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of additional investments, pushing profits lower this year (Financial Times £). Pepsico is to cut jobs and close factories as part of a $2.5bn restructuring programme ordered by its new boss (The Times £).
Beleaguered grocer Ocado is to ditch its familiar green and purple branded vans for its new rapid delivery service and instead use a French courier firm (Mail on Sunday). The Hertfordshire company has signed up Stuart Delivery – a subsidiary of French postal giant La Poste – to operate Zoom which promises grocery orders to the doorstep within the hour.
“After two profit warnings, and an 80% slide in its share price in a year, weak results from McColl’s Retail are unlikely to come as a surprise to investors when they are unveiled,” writes Jonathan Eley for the Financial Times (£).
Takeaway delivery firm Just Eat faces mounting pressure to merge with a rival after a second investor broke ranks to call for a shake-up (Daily Mail). Last week activist investor Cat Rock Capital, which holds 2% of Just Eat, wrote an open letter to the firm’s board demanding a major overhaul. The Mail on Sunday reports that a further three shareholders have also written to the board in the past week to express their frustration at poor communication from the company over an action plan they deem worthy of discussion.
Giant tobacco firm Philip Morris could face an official investigation over allegations that it is illegally advertising its brands to British customers. The Mail on Sunday reports that the maker of Marlboro and Benson & Hedges cigarettes has been reported to telecoms watchdog Ofcom for displaying one of its brand’s logos on Formula 1 racing cars and driver uniforms.
JAB Holdings, the acquisitive investment group whose portfolio spans Pret A Manger and Keurig Dr Pepper, plans to recruit a new managing partner to replace Bart Becht, who left unexpectedly last month after a disagreement over strategy (Financial Times £). Peter Harf, JAB chairman, told the Financial Times that the 29-person investment group and its portfolio companies were stocked with “young talent” who could be promoted if they showed the right combination of skills and ambition.
Pret a Manger plans to introduce full lists of ingredients on its products by the end of the summer as it fulfils a promise to improve labelling after the death of a customer who suffered an allergic reaction to one of its baguettes (The Guardian). The company is investing millions of pounds on label printers for every outlet and training thousands of workers as it revamps its systems amid a government consultation on tougher allergen labelling.
A change in accounting standards will result in a big increase in Tesco’s debt, but will have no “economic impact” on the group, the supermarket chain said on Friday (The Times £).
Retail tycoon Philip Day is in talks to snap up a raft of Marks & Spencer and House of Fraser shops as he looks to ramp up expansion of his new department store venture (Telegraph £, Daily Mail).
Oliver Gill of the Telegraph (£) sat down with Pernod Ricard’s boss, Alexandre Ricard, the youngest chief executive of France’s 40 biggest companies, discussing how he dealt with renowned activist investor Elliott.
“We learn a lot from Africa and our aim in Africa, as elsewhere, is to make a positive impact,” writes Heineken global communications director John-Paul Schuirink in a letter to The Guardian, following a long read by the publication earlier last week.
Brexit has been labelled a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” for the nation’s pubs, allowing duties to be slashed in a “game-changer” moment for Britain’s beleaguered landlords (Telegraph £). Industry figures are calling on ministers to use Britain’s exit from the European Union as a platform to “level the playing field” between the prices paid in pubs and supermarkets.
Michael Gove has been urged not to water down plans to give people money back for recycling plastic bottles and cans, after consulting on whether to target small drink containers only (The Guardian).
Veganuary has been blamed for poor performance in pubs and restaurants last month, with sales slumping after a strong Christmas (Telegraph £).
Domino’s Pizza has been forced into an embarrassing climbdown as its store owners grow increasingly disgruntled over profits (The Sunday Times £). The FTSE 250 company has written to franchisees to announce that it will cancel its annual awards day in April, after almost all its shop owners said they would boycott the event.
“Jasper Cuppaidge, the founder of Camden Town Brewery, is in no mood to call time on his career with the company,” writes James Hurley in an interview with the entrepreneur in The Times (£).
Toasting bread can expose people to more pollution than standing at a busy road junction, scientists have warned (The Times £).
Atomo, a start-up based in Seattle, the home of Starbucks, is attempting to “reverse engineer” coffee by creating the drink without the coffee bean (The Times £).
Struggling garden centre chain Wyevale has narrowly escaped financial default after scrambling to sell off a third of its garden centres (Telegraph £).
The future of celebrity casual dining favourite The Breakfast Club remains in doubt despite a stay of execution on a multimillion-pound loan (Telegraph £).
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