Ocado chips in to £7m round for UK robotics startup Karakuri May 9, 2019 Ocado has led a £7m seed round for UK robotics firm Karakuri, its first investment in a tech startup. Other backers in the round included Hoxton Ventures, Firstminute Capital and Taylor Brothers. The online supermarket chain will use Karakuri's technology to expand its grocery offering after a fire devastated one of its automated warehouses. It [...]
Joules lures in top Asda director as new chief executive May 8, 2019 Fashion group Joules has poached retail veteran Nick Jones to take over as chief executive, it announced this morning. A former top director at Marks & Spencer and Asda, Jones has spent 25 years working within the retail industry. Read more: Prime retail rents slip for embattled high street landlords After 15 years with M&S, latterly [...]
Glass half empty? Wetherspoon shares fall as sales slow and net debt creeps up May 8, 2019 Wetherspoon insisted it is on track to hit full-year targets today despite net debt creeping up and sales growth slowing after a wage hike hurting profits in the first half of its financial year. Read more: Wetherspoons profits slide as cost increases kick in The pub chain did not mention profits in today’s trading update, [...]
Carlsberg puts its hopes in hops – but will its new brew lift fortunes? May 8, 2019 Danish brewers Carlsberg sparked confusion after promoting a series of tweets ridiculing the taste of their own beer, likening it to bath water among other less than favourable comparisons. Yet this wasn’t some serious error from Carlsberg’s social media team, but the start of a carefully brewed marketing campaign, one amended with a tweaked version [...]
Hello Fresh reports soaring customer numbers in first quarter May 7, 2019 Meal delivery service Hello Fresh saw active customers jump 32.2 per cent, boosting revenue to more than €400m. Revenue was up 42.1 per cent from €295.6m in the first quarter of 2018 to 420.1 this year, while Ebitda fell 20.2 per cent to €21.7m. Read more: Hello Fresh revenues soar as it draws up recipe [...]
Budweiser owner AB InBev ‘exploring’ Hong Kong IPO of Asian business May 7, 2019 Budweiser owner Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) is exploring a public listing of its Asian business in Hong Kong, the drinks giant confirmed this morning as it reported its results for the first quarter of the year. The figures Revenue was up 5.9 per cent to to $12.85bn and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) [...]
Black Sheep on stirring up the coffee industry, volcanic plantations, and helping the homeless May 7, 2019 We might be a nation best known for drinking tea, but Brits are increasingly obsessed with coffee. According to market analyst Allegra, we spent a tea-spitting £10.1bn in coffee shops last year. You can’t walk 100 yards in most town centres without stumbling on a Starbucks, Costa, or Cafe Nero – though, with many coffee [...]
Domino’s suffers big dip in shares as it warns on international sales May 7, 2019 Shares in Domino’s Pizza fell seven per cent this morning after the firm warned it will no longer break even in its international division. Read more: Domino's Pizza hits back at reports it misled the City over franchisee row The figures Domino’s group sales rose 4.3 per cent to £324.4m. UK and Republic of Ireland [...]
Morrisons in City spotlight for first-quarter results May 6, 2019 Investors will be hoping Morrisons can replicate recently-improved trading results from its supermarket rivals later this week when it looks set to extend a long spell of like-for-like sales growth. Read more: Morrisons granted permission for Supreme Court appeal over data ruling Following a largely better-than-expected financial performance from both Sainsbury’s and Tesco in recent [...]
Marks and Spencer will shut seven stores for the final time as part of a wider restructuring May 4, 2019 Marks and Spencer will shut down seven more stores today as part of its long-term plan to close 100 by 2022. It will bring the total number of stores closed to 47 as the high street retailer adapts to consumer's changing habits. The department store chain is ending its association with town centres across the UK and [...]