England’s largest winemaker made a sparkling debut on London’s junior exchange yesterday as part of its plan to double the size of its business in three years (The Times £, The Daily Mail). Chapel Down, England’s largest winemaker, has been admitted to London’s Aim market as it searches for new investors to back its plan to double in size between 2021 and 2026 (The Financial Times £)
McDonald’s is testing a coffee shop-style restaurant that puts it in competition with the likes of Starbucks (Sky News). McDonald’s has announced the details of its new retro-style restaurant idea, CosMc’s, which would operate in the same market segment as Starbucks (The BBC).
McDonald’s is launching a new kind of restaurant, CosMc’s, a retro-style store with treats and customisable drinks including “s’mores cold brew”, “churro frappes” and “turmeric latte” that could rival chains such as Starbucks. (The Guardian)
The billionaire Issa brothers have said a rise in working from home has held back Leon’s post-Covid recovery, as losses mount at the fast food chain. (The Telegraph £)
One of Britain’s biggest casual dining operators is to begin testing buyers’ appetite for a deal next year in a move that could see chains such as Ask and Coco di Mama changing hands. (Sky News)
The chief executive of DS Smith is to step down from the FTSE 100 packaging group that he built and has led for the past 13 years. (The Times £)
Cash use has grown for the first time in 10 years as shoppers keep a close eye on their budgets while prices rise, retailers have said. (The BBC)
Harry Wallop in Times writes about the closure of a number of UK food factories: “A post-Brexit Britain is meant to be a world leader in value-added manufacturing. That means instant coffee just as much as pharmaceuticals and every time that a factory closes, it is not only the manufacturing we lose but also the research and development that comes with it.” (The Times £)
When a group of Chechens with links to warlord Ramzan Kadyrov showed up this summer to seize control of Danone’s operations in Russia, the company began receiving frightened calls from its staff in the country… But while the designation sounded the death knell for Carlsberg’s role in its Russian business, much of life at its Russian dairy operations continues as before, with the Chechens largely running the expropriated factories in name only and previous leadership still involved in much of the day-to-day management. (The Financial Times £)
Companies in long-term run-off sectors such as oil or tobacco face a stark strategic choice. They either extract as much value as possible from legacy assets and liquidate their stock, or they seek to build new sustainable businesses. Trying to do both carries execution risk. British American Tobacco risks falling between the two stools. (The Financial Times £)
The powerful National Retail Federation (NRF) lobbying group has retracted a claim that “organized retail crime” accounted for “nearly half” of the shopping industry’s $94.5bn losses due to theft or “shrink” in 2021. (The Guardian)
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