Morrisons has said that it will close 132 lossmaking McColl’s convenience stores that it bought this year, putting about 1,300 jobs at risk (The Times £). Supermarket Morrisons will close more than 10 per cent of the 1,164 McColl’s convenience stores it bought out of administration and will convert most of the remainder to its “Morrisons Daily” brand (Financial Times £).

Morrisons said all of the stores set to close were “loss-making” and had “no realistic prospect” of recovering soon. (BBC)

Workers potentially impacted by redundancies are to be offered other jobs within the business, Morrisons said. (Sky News)

The UK’s fifth-biggest supermarket chain, which beat the owners of Asda to buy the retailer’s 1,164 stores and newsagents after it went into administration earlier this year, said that despite the cuts it believed the business had “strong potential” (The Guardian).

Morrisons has unveiled plans to overhaul the firm after competition regulators said last week they were set to clear the buy-up. (Daily Mail)

The online grocer Ocado has struck a deal to build robotic warehouses for a South Korean retailer, sending its share price rocketing (The Guardian). Ocado shares surged by more than a third on Tuesday after it announced its first major deal since 2019, to provide retail technology for one of South Korea’s largest companies (Financial Times £). Ocado shares soared by more than a third on Tuesday as the online grocer agreed a partnership with one of South Korea’s biggest firms to expand its online business (Daily Mail).

Food prices climbed at their fastest rate on record last month as shoppers were stung by the energy crisis and the war in Ukraine (Telegraph £). Food inflation soared to a record 11.6% in October, with significant price rises even hitting basics such as tea, milk and sugar (Daily Mail). Food inflation surged to a record 11.6% in October - with staple items including tea bags, milk and sugar all seeing significant price rises (Sky News)

Shop prices are rising faster than ever, which, with Christmas less than eight weeks away, is likely to deepen concern among households struggling with the worst cost of living crisis for decades (The Times £).

Unilever is to extend its trial of a four-day working week to 500 employees in Australia after a successful 18-month pilot in New Zealand, becoming the largest company yet to offer a vote of confidence in the shorter schedule (Financial Times £). Unilever is to extend its trial of a four-day working week to 500 employees in Australia, after a successful 18-month pilot in New Zealand, becoming the largest company yet to offer a vote of confidence in the shorter schedule (The Times £).

Coca-Cola has increased its use of newly manufactured plastic by 3.5% since 2019, casting doubt over its ability to cut ‘virgin’ plastic use and heaping more pressure on the world’s largest soft drinks group as it prepares to sponsor the COP27 UN climate summit. (Financial Times £)

Ukraine grain deal collapse revives fears of bread queues and hunger. Russian withdrawal from Black Sea initiative could have ‘catastrophic consequences’ for poorer countries. (Financial Times £)

The owner of the Franco Manca chain of pizza restaurants gave a bullish trading update yesterday – but warned it faced a situation that was more ‘unstable than at any time in recent memory’. (Daily Mail)

Jeremy Torz co-founded Union Hand-Roasted Coffee with Steven Macatonia in 2001 and it now buys about 1,200 tonnes of coffee a year from 42 small producers in 14 countries. Last year it had sales of about £16m and employs 78 people. With the rising costs and the fall in value of sterling against the dollar, the company may only break even this year as it continues to support its producers. (The Times £)

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