Caffeine high: Coca-Cola to buy Costa from Whitbread in £4bn transaction August 31, 2018 Coca-Cola is set to buy high street coffee chain Costa for £3.9bn. The fizzy drink giant wants to add coffee to its drink line up, and has moved for Costa following owner Whitbread’s announcement earlier this year that it intends to spin the hot drink business off. Whitbread, which bought the chain for just £19m [...]
Two in five Londoners have seen a favourite restaurant shut down this year August 30, 2018 Two in five Londoners say they have seen a favourite local restaurant shut down this year, as high costs hit the industry hard. According to food tech startup GoKart, 43 per cent of adults in London have seen a favourite eatery close in the past year. This is higher than the national average of 37 [...]
Seven of Brewdog’s weirdest publicity stunts as it pledges to end ‘shock tactics’ August 30, 2018 Brewdog may have made its name off the back of a bizarre series of publicity stunts, but the indie brewer has pledged to “focus more on beer” and drop the “high octane shock tactics”. Following backlash to its parody porn website earlier this week, Brewdog posted a message to fans and shareholders on its website [...]
WH Smith trading update: Airport sales keeps retailer’s shares aloft August 30, 2018 Airport passengers shopping for a holiday read helped boost WH Smith in the 12 months to the end of August, it said today, as it delivered a trading update on its full-year results. The retailer, voted the UK’s worst high street store earlier this summer, teased its latest results ahead of their official release on [...]
Politicians have abandoned economics for paternalism August 30, 2018 Have advocates of lifestyle and environmental regulation given up pretending that the policies they advocate are grounded in good economic analysis? Two stories from last week suggest so. The first was reporting around a new study by the Global Burden of Disease project, which concluded that even moderate drinking increases the risk of alcohol-related health [...]
Half of BHS’s former stores are still empty two years on from collapse August 29, 2018 More than half of BHS's former sites are still vacant two years after the retail chain's collapse, new data showed today. Some 84 of the 164 stores remain empty, according to the Local Data Company. This comes two years after the final branches of the business closed their doors, resulting in the loss of 11,000 jobs. [...]
Margin pressure and bad weather take a slice out of Pizza Express profits but overall sales grow August 29, 2018 Pizza Express unveiled what it called a "resilient" performance today, despite pressure on margins driving down profits. The restaurant chain, which is owned by Chinese private equity group Hony Capital, has faced cost pressures as well as a significant impact from this year's changeable weather. The figures Group turnover in the 26 weeks to the beginning [...]
Richoux shares drop as restaurant group raises extra funds August 29, 2018 Restaurant group Richoux has announced a plan to raise £1.1m through a share subscription as it faces "continued pressure" from headwinds in the casual dining industry. Shares in the Aim-listed company dropped more than 14 per cent in early trading after the announcement. The group, which also includes the brands Villagio, Friendly Phil's, Zintino and [...]
Pernod Ricard toasts strong growth in India and China August 29, 2018 The world’s second-largest drinks maker Pernod Ricard announced six per cent sales growth in the last financial year, boosted by strong sales in China and India. The French company, which owns brands such as Jameson whiskey, Martell cognac and Beefeater Gin, posted revenue of €8.987bn (£8.148bn) for the 2017-18 financial year. Read more: Rising prices [...]
The Gym Group flexes its muscles with strong expansion and member growth August 29, 2018 Budget gym operator The Gym Group reported another strong period this morning, as membership numbers soar in line with expansion. The figures With six new openings and a string of 13 easyGym sites acquired just after the period end, the total number of gyms reached 147. The group's rapid expansion saw member numbers jump to 720,000, [...]