Amazon has revealed that its UK corporation tax bill almost halved to £4.5m last year, days after the US company posted a record profit of $2.5bn (£1.9bn) in its most recent quarter (The Guardian). The company’s UK logistics arm, Amazon UK Services, paid just £4.6m in tax in the year ending December 2017, down from £7.4m the previous year, according to a filing on Companies House (The Telegraph). Amazon UK paid £1.7m in UK corporation tax last year, down from £7.4m in 2016, its accounts reveal (The BBC). Amazon’s UK tax bill last year was £2.8m less than 2016 despite nearly doubling its profits, its accounts have revealed (Sky News).
One of Britain’s most unlikely exports to France — the Marks and Spencer sandwich — will no longer be sent across the Channel if Brexit leads to complicated new border arrangements, the company’s chairman has warned. Archie Norman said that his company’s sandwiches, created at a vast site in the Midlands and transported through the Channel tunnel every day to France, were a guilty pleasure that Parisians might soon have to do without. (The Financial Times £)
Starbucks will start coffee deliveries in China next month in a partnership with internet giant Alibaba, as the US company looks to protect its lead in a fast-growing coffee market where it is facing tougher competition and a recent decline in sales. (The Financial Times £)
The hot weather and World Cup boosted sales in Mitchells & Butlers’ pubs and restaurants in the third quarter. However, strong drink sales offsetting lower sales of food. The pub operator has said before that “nobody wants a carvery” in a heatwave. (The Times £)
In a move that will make Applegreen one of the biggest motorway service operators in Britain, the Irish group has agreed to buy 55 per cent of Welcome Break in a deal that constitutes a reverse takeover of the company. (The Times £)
Shoppers turned to online retailers in large numbers rather than hitting the high street because of the hot weather in early summer. The latest figures from IMRG Capgemini show that online sales in May jumped by 19.4 per cent year-on-year, reflecting the biggest increase for May since 2010 and the strongest month overall since November 2016. (The Times £)
A legal challenge by landlords against House of Fraser’s plan to close more than half its stores is set to be heard on 14 August, potentially easing the way for a cash injection to save the struggling department store business from collapse. (The Guardian)
Blue Apron shares sank by more than 20 per cent on Thursday morning in the US after the foodkit home delivery company saw customer numbers and revenue decrease by about one-quarter over the past year. (The Financial Times £)
Berlin-based Delivery Hero, one of the world’s largest takeaway food apps and owner of the Foodora brand, is exiting four markets in Europe and the Asia Pacific amid heightened competition in the sector. (The Financial Times £)
Shake Shack shares were crunched on Thursday after the burger chain’s quarterly same-sales growth came up just short of Wall Street’s expectations and it left its full-year revenue forecast unchanged. (The Financial Times £)
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