Investors in Reckitt Benckiser were left reeling after the company was ordered to pay $60m in damages to a mother whose premature baby died after being fed Enfamil infant formula in intensive care (The Times £).
The jury in an Illinois state court came to the conclusion that Enfamil, which is manufactured by Reckitt’s US infant formula business, Mead Johnson, had caused necrotising enterocolitis, a bowel disease, in Jasmine Watson’s infant son (Financial Times £).
When news of the verdict from the US filtered through to trading floors in the City of London, Reckitt’s shares plunged, closing on Friday night down 14.6% to a ten-year low, wiping £5.4bn from its market capitalisation (The Sunday Times £).
Mead Johnson has said it plans to appeal the decision (Mail).
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners has called for the government to pass legislation for single-use drinks containers before the general election, or risk the UK becoming the “dirty man of Europe” (The Times £).
Nespresso, the coffee capsule brand promoted by George Clooney and David Beckham, is to open its first on-the-go coffee shop on Thursday after a previous attempt was abandoned five years ago (The Times £).
Naked Wines, the London-listed online wine retailer, has drafted in debt advisers to explore refinancing options amid tough trading conditions (Sky News).
The chief executive of British American Tobacco has dismissed the idea of moving the company’s listing from London to New York as a “distraction”, after it emerged that the top-10 shareholder who pushed for the change had exited his position in the cigarette maker (Financial Times £).
BAT’s commitment to the UK comes even as the prime minister pushes ahead with plans to make Britain a smoke-free nation (Telegraph £).
In a boost for the City, Tadeu Marroco, chief executive of the company behind Lucky Strike and Dunhill cigarettes, dismissed the idea of shifting the FTSE 100 group’s primary listing to the US (The Mail).
Marks & Spencer is nearing a deal with one of Britain’s biggest high street lenders to overhaul its banking arm as a financial services and loyalty ‘superapp’ (Sky News).
Love Hemp, the cannabis supplements company whose brand ambassadors and shareholders include the boxer Anthony Joshua, has slumped into administration for the second time in just over a year (The Times £).
Sainsbury’s has resolved technical issues that led to the cancellation of online grocery deliveries and card payments in stores on Saturday (The Guardian).
Sainsbury’s has apologised to customers after most online grocery deliveries could not be fulfilled on Saturday due to technical issues (BBC News).
Tesco and Asda have been accused of “playing fast and loose with culinary tradition” by serving the Easter favourite with clotted cream and jam (Telegraph £).
British consumers have been told that the price of some of their favourite red wines could increase by more than 40p next year after the government ignored pleas from the wine industry to abandon complex post-Brexit tax changes (The Guardian).
The Times (£) examines the difficulties facing small breweries as the number going insolvent rose 82% last year.
An article in The Times (£) examines further the activists targeting Nestlé calling for the Swiss maker of KitKat, Smarties and Aero to reduce the proportion of foods it sells that are considered unhealthy.
The Midas share tips column in the Mail (£) takes a look at Kitwave.
Knoops hot chocolate brand plans rapid expansion with aim of having 3,000 stores worldwide by 2030 (The Times £).
Axing tax-free shopping for overseas visitors in the UK is an “act of economic self harm,” a tourism trade body warned on Monday, as new figures showed that visitor numbers at the country’s popular attractions had yet to reach pre-pandemic levels (Financial Times £).
Evidence is mounting that many Americans have reached their limit for tolerating higher prices, raising questions about how much consumer expenditures will continue to power US economic growth this year (Financial Times £).
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