World heads into a potential third year of supply deficit as major growing regions inundated by flooding
In bad news for chocolate lovers, confectionery makers are increasing prices as cocoa beans trade at near decade highs with no respite on the horizon.
Food companies have been grappling with rising costs for the main chocolate ingredient, with cocoa prices up more than 25% in a year amid widespread flooding in some of the world’s main growing regions.
Continue reading...Regulators to be asked about how £10m scam was investigated, as Guardian Today in Focus podcast raises fresh questions about case
Financial regulators are to be summoned to parliament to explain how they prosecuted the case of a multimillion-pound pensions fraud whose victims have yet to receive compensation and which has not led to anyone serving prison time.
Sir Stephen Timms MP, chair of the work and pensions committee, said he was launching an inquiry into how watchdogs and prosecutors handled the case, in which £10m of pension savings disappeared after being invested in the heritage brand Norton Motorcycles.
Continue reading...Treasury committee finds huge majority of venture capital funding goes to companies run by white men in south-east England
The venture capital industry has come under fire from MPs for its “unacceptable failure” to invest in businesses located outside London or south-east England, or those run by women and ethnic minorities.
Businesses founded exclusively by women were revealed to have received just 2% of all venture capital funding in 2022, while even less investment went to companies led by black or other minority ethnic executives.
Continue reading...Coles, Da Mhile, In the Welsh Wind and Penderyn distilleries awarded label in scheme brought in to replace EU version
Welsh whisky is to join its Scottish and Irish counterparts in being officially awarded protected origin status under the UK’s post-Brexit regime.
Single malt from four distilleries in south and west Wales – Coles, Da Mhile, In the Welsh Wind and Penderyn – has been awarded protected geographical indication (UK GI) status, the scheme brought in to replace the EU’s protected designation of origin label.
Continue reading...Teamsters union members are prepared to hold the largest single-employer strike in US history over heat protections
As a UPS delivery driver in Dallas, Texas, Seth Pacic is intimately familiar with the dangers of extreme heat. After a long day’s work through record-breaking temperatures in summer 2011, he found himself dry heaving in the parking lot, incapable of driving home until he spent an hour and a half in the air-conditioned office.
“It was one of the worst feelings I’ve ever had in my entire life,” he said. “I didn’t feel like I fully recovered for a couple of weeks.”
Continue reading...The couple pledged in 2021 to spend $1.5bn of their approximately $25bn personal fortune on projects to tackle the climate crisis
Software billionaire and high-profile climate change activist Mike Cannon-Brookes, the founder of Australian company Atlassian, is separating from his wife, Annie.
Cannon-Brookes married the American fashion designer Annie Todd in January 2010 and the pair have four children together.
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Continue reading...Lawsuit filed against FTX founder, 31, includes memo that detailed plans to purchase Pacific island in case world came to an end
The disgraced cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried, who founded the FTX exchange, had planned to purchase the small Pacific island nation of Nauru in case the world came to an end, according to a new lawsuit.
The lawsuit, filed on Thursday by FTX against its 31-year-old founder and three other former executives, and seeking $1bn, included a memo created by Bankman-Fried’s younger brother Gabriel and an FTX Foundation executive. The memo detailed plans to buy Nauru.
Continue reading...Dealmaker and ardent Brexit critic to leave senior posts at firm he founded more than 20 years ago
Private equity tycoon Guy Hands referenced a Beatles song as he informed staff of his decision to leave the buyout firm he founded two decades ago.
The billionaire dealmaker told staff on Friday he would leave the posts of chairman and chief investment officer at Terra Firma Capital Partners in August, drawing to a close a high-profile, chequered career.
Continue reading...Attempt to curb domestic inflation behind country’s decision on non-basmati white rice
India has banned non-basmati white rice exports to curb domestic inflation, raising fears of further increases in global food prices just days after wheat and corn prices were sent climbing by Russia’s termination of a key grain deal.
The immediate ban, introduced after heavy rains hit domestic crops, follows the failure of a 20% duty on international exports introduced in September to curb foreign demand, which has soared after extreme climate conditions hit production in countries.
Continue reading...Discount chain, owned by Woolworths, says decision is due to feedback from staff and customers
Big W has abandoned in-store announcements that expressed support for the Indigenous voice to parliament, citing responses from customers and staff.
The discount chain, owned by supermarket operator Woolworths, recently used an acknowledgment of country across its stores that affirmed support for the constitutional change to be voted on at an upcoming referendum.
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Continue reading...Rightmove says average advertised rent in Great Britain is at all-time high of £1,231 a month outside the capital
Private rents in Great Britain have soared to fresh all-time highs and the average amount being asked for outside London is now a third higher than four years ago, figures from Rightmove show.
Despite rental growth running well ahead of inflation, the property website said homes were continuing to be let quickly, with many landlords “still being met with long queues of prospective tenants wanting to view and rent their property”.
Continue reading...M&S says ‘short-sighted act of self-sabotage’ leaves no choice but to review position on UK’s premier shopping street
Marks & Spencer has been refused permission to demolish and rebuild its main store on Oxford Street in the West End of London in a win for campaigners concerned about the carbon footprint of redevelopment.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities confirmed that Michael Gove, the secretary of state, disagreed with the recommendation from inspectors to approve the plans and had “decided to refuse permission”.
Continue reading...CMA will launch a detailed probe into ten product areas including milk, bread, and baby formula to ensure households benefit from lower prices as cost inflation falls
On that subject, the maker of Mr Kipling cakes, Oxo cubes and Bisto gravy granules has said it believes recent food cost inflation has peaked, and it is not planning any more price rises for its food products for the rest of the year.
The news came as owner Premier Foods reported a 21% increase in sales in the first quarter of the financial year, compared with a year earlier.
Evidence to date indicates high food price inflation has not been driven by weak retail competition, but competitive pressure is important as input prices fall
Next phase of CMA probe will examine competition and prices across the supply chain for the product categories identified
Rules on unit pricing should be tightened and retailers must comply to help shoppers compare prices easily
Not everyone is able to benefit fully from strong competition, particularly those who cannot travel to large stores or shop online, and therefore may rely on higher-priced convenience stores.
Now that some input costs are starting to fall, there are some signs that grocery retailers are planning to start rebuilding their profit margins. The CMA will monitor this carefully in the months ahead, to ensure that people benefit from competitive prices as input costs fall.
Continue reading...No-frills carrier reports record quarterly £200m profit as rebound in travel industry gathers pace
Holidaymakers are not being deterred by the ongoing heatwave in Europe, as travellers continue to jet off on their summer vacations amid booming demand for travel, according to easyJet.
The airline reported a record pretax profit of £203m for the three months to the end of June, surpassing analysts’ forecasts, as the demand for summer travel rebounds.
Continue reading...Ex-Ukip leader welcomes prospect of law to stop bank account closures due to customers’ political views
Nigel Farage has praised a “swift” intervention by ministers after reports that new laws could be drawn up to stop banks closing customers’ accounts because they disagree with their political views.
The former Ukip leader said MPs were “beginning to realise that this system is coming for them as well” after his bank accounts were closed by Coutts, he says because his views “did not align with” its values.
Continue reading...Premier Foods reports 21% rise in sales but pledges no more price rises this year
The maker of Mr Kipling cakes, Oxo cubes and Bisto gravy granules has said it believes recent food cost inflation has peaked, and it is not planning any more price rises for its food products for the rest of the year.
The news came as owner Premier Foods reported a 21% increase in sales in the first quarter of the financial year, compared with a year earlier.
Continue reading...Report comes amid concerns Elon Musk, who owns SpaceX, Neuralink and Twitter, is spread too thin
Tesla narrowly beat Wall Street expectations in the second quarter of 2023, but shares began to fall in after hours trading following an earnings call that offered shareholders little reassurance surrounding Tesla’s promised Cybertruck release and other production concerns.
Revenue for the quarter topped $24.97bn compared to analyst predictions of $24.7 bn.
Continue reading...Competition regulator tells business committee of ‘significant change’ in retailer’s fuel pricing
Asda’s profit margins on fuel have tripled since before the pandemic, according to the competition regulator at a bad-tempered parliamentary hearing where the supermarket chain’s co-owner repeatedly refused to explain its pricing strategy.
Mohsin Issa declined to answer multiple questions on whether Asda had increased its profit margins on fuel since its takeover in 2021, prompting MPs on the business select committee to become increasingly furious as the retailer insisted it had not changed its strategy.
Continue reading...FCA chief says banks cannot ‘discriminate’ against political views, but chair argues it’s up to Coutts ‘who they do business with’
The City regulator has said it has contacted the owner of Coutts bank amid a growing row over its decision to close Nigel Farage’s accounts, but told MPs that while lenders cannot discriminate against customers, it is ultimately up to firms to decide who to do business with.
It came as the prime minister, the home secretary and the City minister waded in to the growing debate over the rights of lenders to shut or refuse accounts based on concerns over customers’ political views.
Continue reading...Jury rules in favor of California man who says he developed a deadly cancer from heavy exposure to talc powder since childhood
Johnson & Johnson must pay $18.8m to a California man who said he developed cancer from exposure to its baby powder, a jury decided on Tuesday, a setback for the company as it seeks to settle thousands of similar cases over its talc-based products in US bankruptcy court.
The jury ruled in favor of Emory Hernandez Valadez, who filed suit last year in California state court in Oakland against J&J, seeking monetary damages. Hernandez, 24, has said he developed mesothelioma, a deadly cancer, in the tissue around his heart as a result of heavy exposure to the company’s talc since childhood. The six-week trial was the first over talc that New Jersey-based J&J has faced in almost two years.
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