The private equity investor that owns Footasylum is in pole position to buy The Body Shop, the ethical cosmetics chain founded by Dame Anita Roddick and her husband Gordon nearly 50 years ago (Sky News). The private equity investor Aurelius Group is in talks to buy the beauty products chain the Body Shop, which has been put up for sale by its Brazilian owner, Natura & Co (The Guardian). The Body Shop and Topshop are set to be sold by their owners in an attempt to raise hundreds of millions of pounds in cash (The Times £).

Bosses at Sainsbury’s are set to shed more light on how shoppers’ budgets are holding up before Christmas at the supermarket’s interim results on Thursday. (The Times £)

For the first time since records began, Britain has fewer than 100,000 venues serving alcohol as drinkers shun pubs and clubs due to the soaring price of a pint of beer or glass of wine (The Times £). The number of pubs and bars in Britain has dropped below 100,000 for the first time on record as punters are put off by the price of a pint (Daily Mail).

Shares in Rémy Cointreau fell 11% after the French spirits maker predicted its sales would contract by a fifth this year as US consumers shun cognac. (Financial Times £)

Brexit has led to an £850m fall in the value of the UK beauty industry’s exports to the EU, according to a report by a leading economics forecasting organisation. (The Guardian)

From PG Tips to Dollar Shave: how Unilever keeps slimming down. For years, Unilever has been selling off bits of its portfolio to simplify its structure. So which brands have been lost in its never-ending quest to get itself back on the front foot? (The Times £)

Marks & Spencer is opening outlets for its luxury clothing brand Jaeger in another 20 stores across the UK as it pushes to regain its fashion credentials. (Daily Mail)

M&S should rebuild its most famous store, says Alex Brummer. “The Arch needs a total rebuild. Enthusiasm for creating a new emblematic store, paying homage to M&S’s rich history, is there… Misplaced nostalgia should not be allowed to get in the way.” (Daily Mail)

The rise of self-checkout machines has led to a steep decline in vacancies for supermarket jobs, new figures show. (Telegraph £)

Petrol prices should be cut by 5p a litre by the biggest fuel retailers to reflect their lower wholesale costs, the RAC has said. (BBC)

America’s packaged food companies also need to give convincing explanations as to why the growing popularity of weight loss drugs will not eat into future sales. Hershey, the maker of chocolate bars and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups delivered another quarter of outsized gains on Friday. Yet the stock price fell. Hershey has lost a third of its market value since peaking in May. (Financial Times £)

Global investors have more reason than in most years to pay attention to orange juice trading over more conventional commodities such as oil, gas, wheat and metals. The price of OJ futures has surged of late, up 92% since the start of the year, relentlessly setting fresh highs. (The Guardian)

Lewis Hamilton is the latest to cash in on a celebrity drink endorsement, with his “spirits” brand Almave. But the racing driver has added a very modern twist — this drink is, he says, for those who “don’t want the alcohol part of the deal”. (The Times £)

Panera Bread restaurants have displayed new warnings about its highly caffeinated lemonade, days after a lawsuit filed by the family of a university student who died after drinking the beverage. (The Guardian)

Some of Britain’s biggest retailers, including Tesco, John Lewis and Sainsbury’s, have been urged to pull out of a new policing strategy amid warnings it risks wrongly criminalising people of colour, women and LGBTQ+ people. (The Guardian)

Topics