Marks & Spencer and Ocado are eyeing a surprise tie-up that could result in the high street stalwart finally launching an online grocery delivery service after years of resistance to the industry-wide trend. The online grocer and M&S plan to start talks in the coming weeks. Any agreement would be a coup for Ocado after it failed to seal a licensing deal with an overseas player. (The Telegraph)

The Mail on Sunday writes that home delivery for M&S “is an inevitable and necessary step… [but] this will not be a free lunch either”. It adds: “The infrastructure needed to offer such a service nationwide will be vast. It will also be entering a market in which customers have already become used to certain standards and levels of service.” (The Daily Mail)

Meanwhile, shoppers face a further wave of price increases as retailers’ currency hedging arrangements expire, stoking the consumer crunch that sapped economic growth in the first quarter. M&S chairman Robert Swannell said the full impact of weaker sterling on prices had yet to be felt. “Most of us were hedged to a greater or lesser extent so most of this is still to come,” he told a conference last week. (The Times £)

Sainsbury’s is expected to reveal a slide in profits this week as it feels the heat from weaker consumer spending and the falling pound. Pre-tax earnings are forecast to drop 1.5% to £578m, with its acquisition of Argos helping to prop up the core grocery business (The Times £). Sainsbury’s bosses are hoping to convince doubters of its surprise £1.4bn takeover of Argos this week with a jump in sales and profits. The supermarket is expected to report a 7% jump in underlying pre-tax profits, but the positive numbers are likely to be dampened by a one-off charge of around £62m to cover the costs associated with the Argos takeover. (The Telegraph)

Imperial Brands is set to deliver a dismal set of results this week as it braces for the impact of a ban on boxes of 10 cigarettes and small packs of tobacco in British shops. (The Times £)

Reckitt Benckiser is headed for a stormy shareholder meeting on Thursday as two investors prepare to vote against board members. The maker of Durex condoms and Nurofen tablets narrowly avoided a shareholder revolt after a dramatic climb-down on pay, but is now facing a protest over the sale of deadly disinfectants. (The Times £)

The chairman and interim chief executive of the online food-ordering service Just Eat has taken time off work for medical reasons. The FTSE 250 company said John Hughes, who is 64 and has been chairman since 2011, was taking a leave of absence “in order to undergo treatment for a medical condition” (The Financial Times £). Online food ordering business Just Eat has suffered a second senior departure in a month after the group’s chief executive David Buttress stood down because of “urgent family matters” at the end of March. (The Telegraph)

The Co-operative Bank is close to abandoning its search for a buyer and moving towards a second painful financial restructuring instead (The Times £). The Co-operative Bank’s hedge fund backers could take full control of the troubled lender if no bidders come forward before a deadline this week for formal offers for the business. (The Times £)

British-grown iceberg lettuces and other salad ingredients will reappear on supermarket shelves this week – many at bargain prices – ending the vegetable “crisis” triggered by the washout Spanish weather. (The Guardian)

Shares in Colgate-Palmolive fell more than 3% in pre-market trading on Friday after the company behind Colgate toothpaste reported a sharp slowdown in organic sales growth during the first quarter amid continued sluggishness its North American business. (The Financial Times £)

A whisky company founded by a music producer aims to raise at least £300,000 to take the drink into new markets. The blended-grain Scotch produced by 808 Whisky is made at the North British Distillery in Edinburgh and has been sold mainly in clubs and bars in the UK and Ibiza. Tommy Danvers, who has worked with Kylie Minogue, Kanye West, Emeli Sandé and Take That, plans to grow the brand. (The Times £)

The Guardian asks whether Canada’s Tim Hortons can win over UK coffee fans? The national institution to take on Costa and Starbucks with its ‘double double’ and Timbits. (The Guardian)

Sir Philip Green and his wife are among the UK’s richest couples – although their wealth has fallen by £433m over the past year following the collapse of BHS, according to an annual wealth ranking (The Guardian).

A court hearing to force former BHS owner Dominic Chappell’s family business into administration has been adjourned. The judge said on Friday he needed more time to consider evidence in the case of Retail Acquisitions. (The Daily Mail)

The Guardian looks at Whole Foods, noting its progress has stalled: “Like much of the retail sector, it faces economic headwinds including razor-thin margins, competition from other retailers offering organic food, and increasingly price-conscious consumers”. (The Guardian)

The head of Metro, Germany’s largest listed retailer, has “no plan B” if a billionaire shareholder is successful in a legal challenge to its plans to split the company in two (The Financial Times £). Analysts say the lack of overlap between Metro’s food and consumer electronics businesses has not helped it with most investors (The Financial Times £)

Risk Capital Partners chairman Luke Johnson looks at alcoholic drinks brands, concluding: “there is no category of fast-moving consumer goods where the power of brands and marketing matters more”. (The Times £)

Topics