Tesco has opened its first checkout-free store in central London as Britain’s biggest supermarket counters Amazon’s “just-walk-out” technology (The Telegraph).
The supermarket’s GetGo store in Holborn, central London, follows a small trial of a similar store at Tesco head office in Welwyn Garden City, which has been selling goods to the retailer’s staff since 2019 (The Guardian).
Customers with the Tesco.com app will be able to pick up the groceries they need and walk straight out again (BBC News).
Asda is planning to take on half a billion pounds in extra debt and stump up about £250m of its own cash after plans to sell its petrol stations to its owners’ other company, EG Group, collapsed (The Financial Times £).
After the competition regulator cleared the takeover of Asda’s 323 forecourts in June and required 27 disposals, the owners were able to assess the financials of Asda’s forecourts business and yesterday said they no longer wanted it to be part of EG Group (The Times £).
Morrisons investors face a crunch vote today, which is expected to see the 122-year-old supermarket sold to a US private equity giant for £7bn (The Mail).
THG plans to scrap a controversial takeover defence and move to the premium segment of the London Stock Exchange as it tries to restore investor confidence after sharp falls in its share price (The Financial Times £).
The dual-class share structure, which is favoured by technology companies, has put off institutional shareholders because it gives Moulding, the company’s executive chairman and chief executive, more say than other investors (The Times £).
The online retailer and tech services company said the cancellation of Moulding’s controlling share would promote “good corporate governance”, after a turbulent few weeks for the retailer’s stock price sparked by questions over its profitability, share structure and valuation (The Guardian).
The move was welcomed by corporate governance experts, who had criticised Moulding’s iron grip on the company (The Mail).
THG shares rose after the company confirmed that Matt Moulding, its founder and chief executive, would relinquish his “golden share” (The Times £).
A business editorial in The Guardian says The Hut Group misadventure offered lesson in control to wannabe Zuckerbergs. ‘Matthew Moulding’s U-turn is belated acceptance about pitfalls of denying proper voting rights.’
The boss of Caffè Nero said that the coffee bar chain was “on the road to recovery”, with sales reaching 87% of 2019 levels and expected to hit 90% next month (The Times £).
BrewDog has indicated it will delay a planned £2.1bn flotation amid turbulence in the hospitality industry (The Times £). The story follows an interview by CEO James Watt in The Telegraph over the weekend indicating the listing might not take place until 2023.
Retailers are warning of a “battle for labour” this Christmas after Amazon announced it would give new employees a sign-on bonus of up to £3,500 (The Times £).
The Guardian takes a closer look at the UK’s largest sunlit vertical farm as it begins to harvest. “In a greenhouse in Worcestershire, Shockingly Fresh grows towers of leafy veg for supermarket shelves.”
Traders are betting the Bank of England will increase interest rates from record lows as soon as November after governor Andrew Bailey said at the weekend the central bank “will have to act” to keep a lid on inflationary pressures (The Financial Times £).
Growing expectations that the Bank of England will soon raise interest rates sent short-dated government bond yields to their highest level in two and a half years (The Times £).
A comment piece in The Telegraph looks at three reasons to scrap the online sales tax.
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