Inflation could reach 15% early next year, a leading think tank has warned, as soaring gas prices deepen the cost of living crisis (The Times £).
On the eve of the latest decision on interest rates by the Bank of England, the Resolution Foundation thinktank said price pressures were likely to be stronger and last longer than the Bank had previously forecast (The Guardian).
Motoring organisations called on BP and the big four supermarkets to cut their petrol prices and provide greater help to Britons struggling with the cost of living crisis (The Financial Times £).
British businesses are facing crippling increases in their energy bills of as much as 500 per cent that could threaten their survival this winter, leading analysts have warned (The Times £).
Just Eat Takeaway has written down the value of its US subsidiary Grubhub by €3bn, slashing its value by almost half just a year after buying the food delivery group as it contends with strained consumer budgets and stiff competition (The Financial Times £).
The impairment of Grubhub, which pushed the Dutch food delivery group to a €3.5bn loss, was attributed to the fall in valuations in the sector, rising interest rates and “equity volatility on technical valuation metrics” (The Times £).
Just Eat Takeaway has seen orders fall this year as the loosening of Covid-19 restrictions brought customers back to pubs and restaurants (The Mail).
Just Eat is giving COO Jorg Gerbig his job back after a probe into his behaviour at a work event (The Mail).
The business editorial in The Times (£) says Just Eat’s optimism over future profitability is “hard to swallow”.
Unilever has ceased paying Ben & Jerry’s independent board members, the ice cream maker said, the latest escalation of a dispute over the brand’s attempt to stop selling its products in the occupied Palestinian territories (The Financial Times £).
Marks & Spencer has removed disposable barbecues from sale across all its UK stores to “protect open spaces and reduce the risk of fires” (The Guardian).
The decision follows widespread grassland fires during last month’s record heatwave (The Telegraph). The supermarket chain said that it wanted to do its part to help protect open spaces and reduce the risk of fires.
Marks & Spencer customers have been up in arms over the retailer’s habit of delivering underwear on plastic hangers (The Times £). Shoppers have complained after their pants, bras and pyjamas arrived with too much packaging.
Discount retailer Poundland is cutting the price of 1,000 products and opening 25 more stores as inflation hits household finances (The Times £).
A City solicitor could be jailed after he was found to be in contempt of court for telling a client to “burn” a secure messaging system in a dispute with Ocado (The Times £).
Raymond McKeeve had a ‘significant and adverse effect on the administration of justice’ when he ordered an IT manager at a firm set up by Jonathan Faiman to ‘burn’ messages during a corporate espionage probe, as he tried to stop material falling into the hands of online grocer Ocado (The Mail).
Visits to high streets and shopping centres dipped to below pre-pandemic levels last month, with the north of England – plus Scotland and Northern Ireland – trailing behind the south in terms of the overall recovery from Covid-fuelled gloom (The Guardian).
Footfall across retail destinations in Britain fell last month to 14.2% below the 2019 level, wiping out all the gains made since April (The Times £).
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