Nestle’s chief executive Mark Schneider will step down after eight years at the top as sales continue to slump at the world’s biggest packaged food company (Mail).
The Lex column in Financial Times (£) reckons Nestlé’s new boss has a tough turnaround on his hands. “Easy fixes appear to be thin on the ground for Swiss food group’s new chief Laurent Freixe,” the paper says.
A separate feature in Financial Times (£) look at how Nestlé has returned to its own ranks for a new leader charged with revival.
Financial Times (£) examines how Unilever’s sustainability rethink has cheered investors but unsettled staff.
Another article in Financial Times (£) says Unilever is making headway with a new growth strategy under chief executive Hein Schumacher, helping the shares rise by more than a fifth year-to-date.
Unilever is trying to slim its portfolio of personal care brands by putting two of them up for sale, according to Sky News. It reports the FTSE-100 consumer goods behemoth is working with advisors on the disposal of Kate Somerville, an upscale skincare brand it acquired in 2015.
Global coffee prices have soared to record highs as adverse weather conditions disrupt crops, driving up costs for consumers and pushing roasters to add lower-cost beans to their blends (The Financial Times £).
Labour has pledged that the ‘shameful neglect’ of shoplifting must end after an analysis by The Times (£) shows thieves are going unpunished by police, despite a rising number of offences.
The boss of Iceland has warned Labour that a “shock” increase in the minimum wage would bankrupt his business, months after switching to support the party from the Conservatives (The Telegraph £).
The government is moving to limit the number of chicken shops around schools as Labour puts fast-food crackdown back on the menu, following an investigation by The Times (£). The paper reckons measures to combat child obesity, including restrictions on advertising unhealthy foods, were repeatedly delayed under the Conservatives in the face of sustained lobbying from manufacturers.
Waitrose boss James Bailey is confident the chain is getting its mojo back, with more customers and plans to open new stores (The Guardian).
M&S pins hopes on Oxford Street store revamp as the retailer awaits decision from new Labour government on multimillion-pound plans to refurbish Art Deco flagship (Financial Times £).
Marks & Spencer is considering opening a range of clothing-only boutiques as soaring demand for its lingerie and cashmere jumpers help reverse years of decline in its fashion sales (Telegraph £). The retailer will open a standalone clothing boutique in London’s Battersea Power Station later this year as a trial ahead of potential further openings.
Morrisons is scaling back night shifts for its workers as bosses battle to turn around the grocer’s fortunes and win back market share (Telegraph £).
Thousands of orders for Asda’s George clothing range have been plunged into chaos ahead of the new school year after a botched IT upgrade (Telegraph £).
British officials have been travelling across Europe to learn more about bottle return schemes and will attempt to reproduce the most successful measures in the UK (The Times £).
Organised crime gangs are targeting supermarket lorry drivers as they transport high-value cargo, such as cigarettes, alcohol and clothing consignments, to stores around the country (The Sunday Times £). HGV drivers for Sainsbury’s have been targeted “up to eight” times a day after leaving distribution centres in Basingstoke in Hampshire, Waltham Point in Essex and Dartford in Kent.
Tesco is Britain’s most unequal blue chip company, according to The Mail on Sunday’s annual audit of boardroom pay. Ken Murphy made £10m in 2023, which is 431 times the sum received by a typical Tesco worker. He made more in a day than Tesco’s UK staff did on average all year. Sainsbury’s Simon Roberts also makes the top ten in the list.
The business and trade secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, has signalled a new twin-track approach to UK trade policy, in which the Labour government will pursue closer ties with the European Union while at the same time seeking new global partnerships further afield (The Observer).
UK manufacturers have renewed calls on the government to urgently draft an industrial strategy that will bring in investment and fix the “terrible” damage caused by the Brexit deal (The Guardian).
Non-alcoholic Guinness could one day outsell the real thing amid a surge in demand from health-conscious younger drinkers, according to an executive at maker Diageo (Mail).
Anna MacDonald, marketing director at the drinks giant, has predicted the shift amid a surge in demand for booze-free beer among health-conscious younger drinkers (Telegraph £).
A new version of the world’s first raspberry-picking robot, a four-armed machine powered by artificial intelligence and able to do the job at the speed and effectiveness of a human, is to be employed on farms in the UK, Australia and Portugal over the coming 12 months (The Guardian).
First there were branded T-shirts, then yellow and blue trainers — now discount chain Lidl has teamed up with the designer Nik Bentel for its first handbag (The Times £).
Cheap rents and return of shoppers have inspired a high street revival (The Times £). Retailers are putting their faith in bricks and mortar as it becomes clear customers want in-store shopping.
Deliveroo is considering asking its delivery drivers to photograph restaurant menus on collection amid fears eateries are charging customers too much for takeaways (Telegraph £).
Posh pizzas have taken over UK supermarket shelves as ’the ultimate fakeaway’, according to The Guardian. Specialty styles and outre toppings proliferating as ready meals seek to replicate restaurant trends.
A business editorial in the Telegraph (£) thunders that “the hell of self-service checkouts is becoming Kafkaesque”, with these supermarket ‘innovations’ encouraging fury and thievery
A feature in Financial Times (£) takes a look at how Lidl accidentally took on the big guns of cloud computing. “A unit of Europe’s largest retailer is offering IT services to companies wary of big providers such as Amazon and Google,” the paper writes.
It is weeks until the clocks change, but the countdown to Christmas has begun, with John Lewis entering the fray by giving Britons the first glimpse of the toys it expects shoppers to be hunting for come December (The Guardian).
Leading London wine merchant Oeno is embroiled in a spat with a US celebrity chef over claims it is refusing to repay cash he ploughed into its investment scheme (Telegraph £).
Mushrooms are the wellness trend du jour, turning up in coffee, supplements and even beer, says The Guardian. Now, consumers are being told to slather them on their heads after Dyson revealed they could be a secret weapon in the age-old battle with frizzy hair.
The world’s first ice cream generated by artificial intelligence, AI Terra, is remaking Milan’s ice cream scene and driving a gelato boom, according to The Sunday Times (£).
Restaurant group Bill’s is set to restart opening new locations in the latest sign of confidence in the UK casual dining sector after the spate of closures induced by the pandemic (Financial Times £).
Generation Z diners do not want to speak to waiters in restaurants and would rather order and pay for food through an app, the boss of Bill’s has said as the cafe chain rolls out self-service kiosks and QR codes to appeal to app-oriented customers (Telegraph £).
Consumers looking to treat themselves despite the cost of living pressures helped boost the UK’s beauty sector last year (Financial Times £).
The new boss of Walmart Mexico is planning an ambitious ecommerce push to try to double its sales in less than a decade as competitors nip at the heels of one of the biggest retail businesses in Latin America (Financial Times £).
No comments yet