Coronavirus

Grocery sales increase in February

UK supermarkets saw “positive growth” in February, as total till sales increased to +0.7% in the last four weeks according to new data from Nielsen. Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sales at the top four supermarkets also returned to growth during the month, despite sales in general merchandise declining by…

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Greggs hails ‘exceptional’ record-breaking year

Bakery chain Greggs has reported a 13.5% increase in total sales to £1.1m for the year ended 28 December 2019. In what was a ‘record-breaking’ year for the group, company-managed shop like-for-like sales were also up 9.2%. Pre-tax profit excluding pre-tax charge was up 27.2% to £114.2m, with an overall…

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Coronavirus sends ripples through markets, governments, companies and the public

Apologies for the repetition, but the new coronavirus is causing such a serious global reaction today it would be silly to focus on other things, so here are four key stories about what looks to be developing into a full blown international crisis. The FTSE 100 has lost nearly £200…

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Consumer confidence rises in February

Consumer confidence has increased two points to –7 this month, according to the latest figures from the GfK. According to its Consumer Confidence Index, three measures increased, one measure decreased, and one measure remained the same during February.  The Personal Finance Situation index, which measures changes in personal finances during…

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Global stocks react badly to coronavirus update

It looks like efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak have not been entirely successful, and stock markets around the world are now beginning to react more profoundly than before. The FTSE 100 was down almost 3.3% at the time of writing, from 7,403 points to 7,159. For those not familiar…

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Primark owner warns of coronavirus’ impact on supply

Primark owner AB Foods has warned of the impact the coronavirus could have on supply for the retailer if disruption caused by the epidemic in China is prolonged. In a pre-close trading update, AB Foods said while the clothing retailer was “well stocked” in the short-term, if delays to factory…

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HSBC to cut 35,000 jobs, new chancellor sticks to schedule, Bezos creates $10bn ‘Earth fund’

HSBC has announced plans to cut 35,000 jobs over the next three years after a dire set of financial results. Profits have fallen by 33% year on year and that is before the impact of the coronavirus can even be fully measured in Q1 and the months to come. The…

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Ocado ditches Waitrose; Bill gates orders £500m beast-yacht; Boris to lower immigration wage threshold

A busy start to the week in the business pages. As the coronavirus story unfolds I am reluctant to spend every day providing updates on it, but it is worth noting quickly that there is likely to be some worldwide economic turbulence due to the latest developments. A slew of…

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Burberry warns on sales impact from coronavirus outbreak

Luxury fashion retailer Burberry has warned that its sales for the year ended March 2020 will be impacted by the recent coronavirus outbreak. Burberry said its recent guidance for the current financial year “predates the impact”, and currently 24 of its 64 stores in mainland China are closed with remaining…

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British Airways gets flighty and Starbucks smells the coffee over coronavirus

The business response to the coronavirus situation, which appears to be developing into a serious crisis, continues apace today. British Airways today announced that it was suspending all flights between the UK and Wuhan, the Chinese city where the virus originally broke out. In a statement it said: “We have…

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