The UK’s competition regulator is set to approve the acquisition of supermarket group Morrisons by Clayton, Dubilier and Rice in early June after the private equity group offered to sell 87 petrol stations (The Financial Times £). The new owner of Morrisons has offered to sell 87 petrol station forecourts in an effort to gain the competition watchdog’s approval for its £7bn takeover of the UK’s fourth largest supermarket (The Guardian). The £7billion private equity takeover of Morrisons is set to be approved after the competition watchdog said it would accept proposals from buyer Clayton, Dubilier and Rice (The Daily Mail).

BrewDog staff are in line for potential payouts of up to £120k after its chief executive pledged to share with them £100mn of his personal stake in the UK’s largest craft brewer (The Financial Times £). The boss of Brewdog is to give £100m of shares to staff and hopes to lead the business for years to come. James Watt intends to donate a 5 per cent stake over the next four years to salaried workers at the firm (The Times £). BrewDog staff could receive shares in the firm worth £120,000 each as the brewer seeks to repair relations with employees (The Daily Mail). The craft beer firm said its 1,500 bar staff, who are paid by the hour, can expect to receive an extra £3,000 to £5,000 a year in cash, based on last year’s figures (Sky News). The shares are not yet tradeable, and plans to float shares on the stock exchange have been delayed, notes The BBC.

A new lobby group of UK retailers has declared itself “open to the possibility” of introducing an online sales tax to finance a big cut in business rates, highlighting deep industry divisions about how to rebalance the burden of taxation between physical and internet stores (The Financial Times £). Firms including Sainsbury’s, Tesco, B&Q owner Kingfisher and Greggs have written to the Chancellor calling on him to ‘Cut the Shops Tax’ (The Daily Mail). Retail giants including Tesco, J Sainsbury, Greggs and Waterstones are forging a new coalition to urge Rishi Sunak to plough ahead with reforms to Britain’s decades-old business rates regime (Sky News).

Unilever bosses should break up the business before an activist forces their hand, analysts have said as they warned the Ben & Jerry’s owner is “reverting to mediocrity repeatedly”. (The Telegraph)

Unilever’s spurious excuses for staying in Russia show it’s ripe for a break-up, writes The Telegraph’s Ben Marlow. “The problem is that Unilever is an organisation that is drowning in so much social intent that it seems to have forgotten that its primary purpose as a listed entity is to make a profit and generate value for shareholders.” (The Telegraph)

The £45bn company that will be created from the demerger of GlaxoSmithKline’s consumer products arm is in talks to hire a roster of investment bankers in one of the year’s most prestigious City pitches. Haleon has convened a beauty parade of banks to appoint its inaugural corporate brokers and financial advisers. (Sky News)

The cost of household goods such as toys, furniture and clothing is rising by the fastest rate in more than 15 years as the impact of the war in Ukraine combines with Covid lockdowns in China (The Guardian). Cost of living crisis worsening as shop prices rise at fastest rate in more than a decade. The British Retail Consortium said growing shop prices reflect the impact of energy costs, the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 lockdown in China (Sky News).

Shares in McColl’s Retail Group are likely to be suspended next month after it warned that it would not meet a deadline to file its financial results. (The Times £)

Ocado is facing a showdown at its annual meeting on Wednesday as it seeks to extend a controversial incentive scheme that could pay out tens of millions of pounds to senior executives (The Financial Times £)

Turkey’s farmers battle with soaring costs and mounting debt. The collapse of the lira and rocketing global prices underline the need for agricultural reform. (The Financial Times £)

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