Morrisons’ revival of the Safeway brand after 11 years as part of an attempt to get back into the fast-growing convenience market comes under the media glare. The former supermarket brand, which disappeared in November 2005 after being bought by Morrisons, will front a range of hundreds of food and grocery products (The Guardian). The range of Safeway-branded convenience products will be sold by independent retailers from next year. The Financial Times notes that it is part of Morrisons’ broader strategy to return to the convenience sector which includes trialling a new chain of convenience stores, initially at 10 petrol stations across the UK in the next two months. The Telegraph has a detailed column opining on why Dave Potts is returning Morrisons to its roots.
Discount chains Aldi and Lidl are hiking prices for basic groceries, such as milk and bananas, as it battles inflationary pressures caused by sterling’s decline, The Guardian reports. The two German grocers have raised the price of a four-pint bottle of milk from 95p to 99p, from 95p –on a par with Asda and 1p behind Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Tesco – and a pack of bananas is up from 68p to 72p.
The Mail warns that food and drink prices set to soar in run-up to Christmas as Britain’s producers are hurt by the weak pound. Households will soon see shop prices rise at the fastest rate in nearly three years as the Brexit-hit pound sends costs for producers soaring, according to a report by the CBI. The Times writes that the decision to quit the European Union has already wiped $1.5 trillion off the wealth of British households, according to a report by Credit Suisse.
However, the latest third quarter figures from the FDF show that the tumbling pound is feeding through into rising exports (The Times). Exports of branded British food and non-alcoholic drinks shot up by nearly 14% in the third quarter after the steep plunge in the pound since the vote to quit the European Union.
The €5bn-plus auction of SABMiller’s eastern European brewing assets, which is part of Anheuser-Busch InBev’s £71bn takeover of SABMiller, is expected to be finalised in coming weeks (The Financial Times).
Catering group Compass warned it would increase prices on some UK contracts as a result of rising food costs following Britain’s vote to leave the EU (The Financial Times).
The Guardian has a story accusing a Tesco store in Edinburgh of discriminating against state school children by making them queue outside while private school pupils are allowed to come and go as they please.
Dr Pepper Snapple is pushing into the healthier parts of the beverages market after agreeing to buy antioxidant infused drinks maker Bai Brands for $1.7bn in cash (The Financial Times).
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