Online grocer Ocado has raised £575m from investors as the once-high flying group seeks to sustain its expansion amid a slowing UK economy (The Financial Times £).
Ocado has braved volatile markets to tap investors for £578m as it accelerates construction of its robotic warehouses across the world (The Times £).
Ocado said it wanted the cash to “invest in innovation at a faster pace” and help its clients, which include the US supermarket chain Kroger and the French grocer Casino, to accelerate the shift to online shopping (The Guardian).
News of the cash call came as ratings agency Fitch hit the company with a downgrade and warned of mounting risks at its international business (The Telegraph).
The UK statistics office is to produce localised figures on inflation in different parts of the country as it embarks on a mass expansion of price surveys (The Times £).
Will Hagues writes in an op-en in The Times (£) that “inflation is here to stay unless we get serious”. “Raising interest rates will help but a strategy to improve skills, retrain workers and increase productivity is vital,” he writes.
Rishi Sunak has been urged to reject plans for a new online sales tax as economists warn it would add to inflation just as families are already reeling from the fastest price rises in 40 years (The Telegraph).
Primark is to make its first push into online shopping with a “click and collect” trial for children’s products that could be the start of a broader move away from its store-only retail business (The Financial Times £).
The move was unveiled by its parent company Associated British Foods alongside its third quarter results, which showed rising sales at both Primark and its food division (The Mail).
The high street retailer will launch the trial at 25 stores in the north-west of England by the end of the year, but said it would only cover children’s clothing and accessories, as the company – owned by Associated British Foods – tries to draw more families into its stores (The Guardian).
The budget fashion retailer was severely hit during the pandemic when it lost billions of sales as all of its stores were forced to shut during lockdowns and its lack of a website meant that it had no buffer from online revenues (The Times £).
The new boss of Marks & Spencer has put his first stamp on the retailer by hiring a former colleague to lead its food business (The Times £). Alex Freudmann was named M&S’s new food managing director, and will take over grocery responsibilities from 1 November, after Stuart Machin was promoted to chief executive last month.
He brings with him six years’ experience at Tesco in a variety of roles including senior buying manager for prepared meals (The Mail).
Deliveroo, the online takeaway delivery firm, has poached a new finance chief from MoneySupermarket in a fresh attempt to turn around its fortunes (The Times £).
Scotland’s whisky producers face supply chain and interest rate rise hits (The Financial Times £). Distilleries had suffered a drop in revenues in the wake of Covid travel restrictions and Trump’s trade war.
Petrol prices across the UK have hit new highs despite a drop in wholesale costs since the jubilee weekend as garages fail to pass on the falling costs (The Times £).
Commuters forced to drive to work because of rail strikes are facing record costs to fill up their cars as UK fuel prices continue to rise (The Guardian).
Retailers face shake-up as US consumers trade down to beat rising prices (The Financial Times £).
Dire forecasts of worsening food insecurity present opportunities and potential ethical problems for exchange traded fund investors who want to gain exposure to food, food production and agriculture (The Financial Times £).
As Revlon prepares to negotiate its restructuring after filing for bankruptcy last week, the American cosmetics group still does not know the identity of all its key creditors, a consequence of a bizarre banking mistake (The Financial Times £).
No comments yet