The UK’s Co-operative Group has warned that profits are likely to fall this year and it expects inflation to remain high until the next (Financial Times £).
While that “volatile external environment” contributed to an 11% fall in profits at the 160-year-old mutual’s grocery arm, which has more than 2,000 stores, the group said underlying operating profit across the business had remained steady at £100m (The Guardian).
Total group revenue for the year came in at £11.5bn, up from £11.2bn in 2021 (Mail).
The Co-op has launched a campaign to attract one million new members to the mutual organisation over the next five years as it wrestles with the “turbulent economic headwinds” (The Times £).
Hilton Food Group has revealed its new chief executive after profits dived following major challenges in the food packaging company’s UK seafood business (Mail).
Philip Heffer is moving into an advisory role almost 30 years after helping set up the business. His successor is Steve Murrells, who ran the Co-op Group for five years before departing last May (The Times £).
Berry Bros & Rudd, Britain’s oldest wine and spirits merchant, has marked its 325th year by purchasing a minority stake in Cotswolds Distillery, the leading producer of English whisky (The Times £).
The UK’s apple-growing industry is under severe threat, with many growers unable to afford replanting this year (Sky News).
The UK government has set out proposals to introduce full customs checks on goods entering Britain from the EU by the end of October 2024, more than three-and-a-half years after originally planned (Financial Times £).
Sainsbury’s has defended its new minced beef packaging after some shoppers complained it turned the meat to mush (BBC News).
Sir Neil Shaw, who has died in Toronto aged 93, was a modernising chief executive of the sugar giant Tate & Lyle, The Telegraph writes in an obituary. “He had boundless energy and proclaimed himself ‘a massive consumer’ of his company’s product.”
Japanese restaurant group Toridoll is to buy Franco Manca owner Fulham Shore for £93.4m and plans to expand the business internationally (Financial Times £).
Toridoll, which is listed on the Tokyo exchange and has sales of £1bn worldwide, said it had partnered with the restaurant sector specialist fund Capdesia to buy the London-listed pizza and Greek casual dining group Fulham Shore for 14.15p a share in cash (The Guardian).
Fulham Shore shares soared over 30% or 3.4p to 13.90p this afternoon, but have fallen by about 15% in the last year (Mail).
Toridoll, which is working with Capdesia, a private equity firm, was founded in 1990 by Takaya Awata and is aiming to build a business of more than 5,500 stores. In Europe, its brands include Shoryu and Wok to Walk (The Times £).
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