Sainsbury’s has bounced back from the failure of its attempt to merge with Asda, latest industry figures from Kantar suggest. It was the strongest performer of the big four in the 12 weeks to August 11, which Kantar attributed to a boost in sales of own-brand products and a recent voucher promotion. Nielsen data showed it was the only big supermarket to have attracted new sales (The Times £). Bruno Monteyne, a food analyst at Bernstein, said a few more of such data points could spark a new wave of optimism” (The Telegraph).

More shoppers ditched the biggest supermarkets in favour of Aldi and Lidl (The Daily Mail). Lidl attained its biggest UK grocery market share to date at 5.9%, says The Guardian. Its sales jumped 7.7% in the period Kantar measured. “Supermarket sales fail to heat up despite record temperatures” (Sky News).

US tech firm Starship Technologies has raised $40m (£33.1m) in a series A funding round. Its autonomous robot delivery operates in cities across the UK and the US delivering groceries, takeaways and parcels. Some of the funds will be used to expand its reach in Britain, including serving the increasing student population at various campuses. Starship has partnerships with Tesco, the Co-op and Just East. Others will follow in the coming months (CityAM).

The humble banana is under threat as a deadly fungus, Panama TR4 disease, reaches Latin America. The fungus has devastated plantations in south-east Asia over the past 30 years. It now threatens the Cavendish banana, which accounts for 95% of the world’s experts and half of global productions., The Columbian Agriculture and Fishing Institute has declared a “national emergency” (Financial Times £).

Walmart has filed a lawsuit alleging solar panels supplied by SolarCity, now part of Tesla, caused fires at seven of its stores. It alleges breach of contract stemming from “years of gross negligence and failure to live up to industry standards” and highlights damage to store merchandise and out-of-pocket losses. SolarCity installed panels at 240 Walmart stores (Financial Times £) and (The Guardian).

JPMorgan has “flipped” in favour of Beyond Meat, giving the plant-based burger business a “bull” rating as its analysts noted that its wares were “catching on with consumers”. The shares closed up 6.5% after jumping 9.5% at one point to $158.20. Beyond Meat now has one “buy” rating, seven “hold” ratings and one “sell” on Wall Street, Bloomberg data shows (Financial Times £).

The Unite trade union has demanded an urgent meeting with CK Asset Holdings following the Hong Kong investor’s £4.6bn takeover of Greene King (The Times £). Has CK Asset Holdings chosen the right pub with its £4.6bn Greene King deal, asks Lombard in the Financial Times (£). Analysts think other sector companies, such as Marston’s, Mitchells & Butlers and Whitbread, offer real estate backing and better value. The Telegraph asks who the Hong Kong “Superman” taking on British beer is. An opinion piece in The Guardian says the Greene King sale “isn’t one for pubgoers to drink to”.

 

Casino plans to sell another €2bn of assets as part of a broad restructuring to shore up the French retailer’s financial position (Financial Times £).

The Confederation of British Industry’s industrial trends survey says a balance of -13% of businesses reported a rise in new orders in the three months to August, compared with -34% in the quarter to July, showing stabilisation after the sector reported its biggest fall in factory orders for a decade last month (The Times £).

Diageo chief executive Ivan Menezes enjoyed the biggest percentage pay boost among FTSE 100 bosses last year. His total package climbed 167% to £9.06m (The Times £).

The government has promised to start automatically enrolling UK businesses in a customs system to enable them to continue to trade with European Union member states if the UK leaves without a deal (BBC). Sky News reports the government will automatically allocate more than 88,000 VAT-registered companies in the UK a “trading number” in the next fortnight to allow them to continue to trade with the EU after 31 October when a no-deal Brexit could transpire.

 

British farmers are scrambling to sell their big harvests of barley and wheat before October to avoid the potential market chaos of a no-deal Brexit, says Bloomberg.

 

Alibaba has delayed its $15bn Hong Kong listing as the city faces widespread political unrest. The listed was scheduled to take place this month. It could now be delayed until October (BBC).

 

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