Retailers can cheer the sunshine as the summer heatwave has helped them sell seasonal goods without resorting to discounting, pushing up prices in the shops (The Telegraph). Hot weather has also pushed up food prices as a lack of rain has made it tougher to grow crops and find enough feed for livestock.
The latest BRC-Nielsen figures show that overall shop prices rose 0.1% in August, entering inflationary territory for the first time since April 2013 (The Guardian). Food inflation jumped to a seven-month high of 1.9% in August (The Times £, Sky News).
Amazon employs upwards of 100,000 robots in 26 of its fulfilment centres to speed up order processing, reports The Times (£) as part of a new series on Amazon. Amazon Robotics is exploring a new breed of machine that can take and replace items from the towers.
The boss and co-founder of Ocado has offloaded more than £50 million of the retailer’s stock (The Times £). Linic, owned by a Bahamas-based lawyer as trustee of a trust of which Tim Steiner is a beneficiary, sold 4.8 million shares at £10.60 each (Daily Mail).
Pernod Ricard SA, the world’s second-largest distiller, gave a higher profit forecast after Jameson whiskey extended a nine-year streak of sales growth and strength in China and India drove a surge in demand for the company’s spirits (Bloomberg).
Stock market euphoria and expectations of pay rises have helped to push the confidence of American consumers close to an 18-year high (The Times £). The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index jumped to 133.4 this month, up from 127.9 in July and easily beating economists’ forecasts of a fall to 126.8. The index, published yesterday, is based on a monthly survey of American households.
Europe’s biggest plastics packaging company is offloading part of its American business amid pressure from investors (The Times £). RPC Group said that it had reached an agreement to sell the food service business of Letica Corporation for $95 million to Graphic Packaging International, an American rival, subject to regulatory approval.
The Gaucho restaurant chain is set to be rescued from administration after two investment banks teamed up to acquire the group’s debt as a prelude to taking control of the business (The Times £).
Mike Ashley has warned hundreds of jobs at House of Fraser will be axed unless ‘greedy’ landlords back down in a row over rents (Daily Mail).
Yum China, which operates the Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC fast-food chains in Asia’s largest economy, has rejected a $17bn buyout offer from a consortium of private equity players, people briefed about the matter said (Financial Times £).
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