Drinkers buying spirits to make cocktails at home have helped Diageo boost revenues above pre-Covid levels, even as supply chain disruption prevented the distiller from selling as many bottles as it would like (The Financial Times £).
The group behind Johnnie Walker, Guinness and Smirnoff vodka posted a 16% rise in global sales to £8bn - with sales of premium alcohol making up more than half of that, as the pandemic trend for finer booze continues (The Mail).
The drinks group behind Johnnie Walker Scotch whisky and Captain Morgan rum is to press the accelerator on its £4.5bn programme to return cash to shareholders after toasting forecast-beating half-year results (The Times £).
Greencore has suffered a shareholder revolt over its plans to pay bonuses to directors while refusing to pay back £30m of government support it received during the pandemic (The Times £).
Investors in Greencore narrowly failed to block plans to pay out hundreds of thousands of pounds in executive bonuses, after outrage at the company’s failure to refund any of the near-£30m it received in government support during the pandemic (The Guardian).
Fever-Tree lost some of its fizz as better revenue guidance than expected was offset by a weaker earnings outlook on the back of rising input costs (The Times £).
The Tempus shares column in The Times (£) takes a closer look at Fever-Tree amid mixed feelings for the posh tonic maker. The column concludes the shares are an ‘avoid’: “The current valuation leaves little room for error, which could materialise if inflation persists for longer than anticipated.”
Britvic said yesterday that it expected out-of-home revenues to continue along the path towards 2019 levels as Covid restrictions eased, although inflation remained an issue (The Times £).
Regulators have launched an investigation into the £7bn private equity takeover of Morrisons, examining whether the buyout of the supermarket group by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice will result in higher fuel prices on forecourts around the country (The Mail).
Tesco has said it will encourage shoppers and staff to continue to wear masks after Plan B rules were relaxed in England on Thursday (BBC News).
The national pig herd has lost-one tenth of all sows over the last six months, farmers’ associations have revealed, after breeders were forced into a massive cull caused by a shortage of labour in abattoirs (The Guardian).
A record number of Britons have given up meat, dairy and alcohol for January, with demand for vegan foods and non-alcoholic drinks rocketing over the month, according to data from Tesco (The Times £).
M&S launches TikTok-inspired ‘live shopping’ to win younger customers (The Telegraph). The 137-year-old company is thought to be the first major UK retailer to launch this feature.
The number of shuttered stores on high streets and in shopping centres has fallen for the first time since the beginning of 2018, according to new data (The Times £).
Higher meat prices delivered a nasty aftertaste for McDonald’s yesterday after the fast-food giant said that it had enjoyed a successful Christmas (The Times £).
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