6:49 am, October 23, 2025
Lidl profits more than triple as shoppers switch from rival supermarkets
Lidl has revealed a three-fold surge in profits as more shoppers switched from its supermarket rivals amid the rising cost of living.
Sales jumped by 7.9% to £11.7bn for the year to February 28, compared with a year earlier. The increase in sales and significant store investment helped pre-tax profits more than triple to £156.8m from £43.6m a year earlier.
The company was the UK’s fastest growing supermarket chain over the year as it benefited from stronger customer demand and new shops.
Evri and Yodel at bottom of delivery firm customer satisfaction survey – Ofcom
Evri and Yodel have the least happy customers when it comes to contacting delivery firms for help, an annual survey by the regulator has found.
Amazon and FedEx have jointly taken the top spot in Ofcom’s customer satisfaction survey of parcel delivery companies.
Yodel and Evri, at the bottom of the ranking, only managed scores of 38% and 31% respectively. Both firms also had the highest levels of dissatisfaction, with Evri scoring 41% and Yodel 33%.
Yangwang U9 Xtreme sets new lap record for fastest electric hypercar around Nurburgring
The Yangwang U9 Xtreme has just set another new record as the fastest electric hypercar to go around the famous Nurburgring race track, Germany.
The U9 Xtreme is currently the world’s fastest production car, after it set a world record last month, clocking a top speed of 308mph.
The hypercar has just set another record around the legendary Nurburgring race track in Germany, for the fastest lap set for an electric hypercar, managing to complete the 13-mile track in just 6:59.15 minutes; beating the previous record of 7:05.29 minutes set in a Rimac Nevera in 2023.
The markets
The FTSE 100 forged ahead on Wednesday, with housebuilders in demand, as weaker-than-expected inflation figures boosted hopes for an interest rate cut before the end of the year.
The FTSE 100 index closed up 88.01 points, 0.9%, at 9,515.00. The FTSE 250 ended 321.49 points higher, 1.5%, at 22,229.79 and the AIM All-Share advanced 2.17 points, 0.3%, at 768.03.
The pound was quoted lower at 1.3366 US dollars at the time of the London equity market close on Wednesday, compared to 1.3390 dollars on Tuesday.
Reeves hails £500m package for homes and transport in Oxford-Cambridge corridor
Rachel Reeves has announced a £500m investment package for new homes and stronger transport links between Oxford and Cambridge as part of a bid to create ‘Europe’s Silicon Valley’ in southern England.
The Cowley Branch railway line in Oxford will reopen with new stations in Littlemore and Cowley, which the Treasury said would support up to 10,000 new jobs.
The investment will also go towards the development of affordable homes in Cambridge, with plans to launch a consultation on forming a new centrally led development corporation to support the growth of the city.
OpenAI to store data on British soil for first time under government deal
ChatGPT-maker OpenAI will be able to store data on British soil for the first time under a new government deal aimed at bolstering security for businesses in the face of mounting global cyber threats.
Deputy prime minister David Lammy will set out plans to allow firms to hold information on ‘sovereign servers’ run by the tech giant in a bid to both improve privacy and accountability and reinforce ‘national resilience’.
The government hopes the agreement will help to unlock investment from companies by providing them with the confidence that their data is being managed securely in the UK.
Wednesday on Car Dealer
Big Motoring World confirms ‘small number’ of redundancies as workers say they’ve been left ‘in limbo’
Big Motoring World has been accused of leaving workers ‘in a state of limbo’ after a ‘small number of employees’ were put at risk of redundancy.
JLR hack cost UK £1.9bn in ‘most economically-damaging’ cyber attack in British history
The JLR hack cost the UK an estimated £1.9bn, making it the most most economically damaging cyberattack in British history.
Family-run DM Keith sees profits cut in half after year of major acquisitions in 2024
Dealer group DM Keith saw its profits slashed in half in 2024 as the firm invested in a number of major acquisitions.
Nissan ‘Electric Encounters Live’ tour kicks off as Leaf and Micra head to all 130 dealerships
The new Nissan Leaf and Micra have set off on a UK tour of dealerships to showcase the brand’s latest technology to customers.
Car dealers risk losing customers as slow responses drive buyers towards rival firms
Car dealers are missing out on customers by failing to respond quickly enough to enquiries.
Weather
Strong, gusty winds hit the south and east today, with heavy rain in eastern England and showers in the west, reports BBC Weather. Northern and western areas stay drier, with sunshine in western Scotland.
Tonight brings clear, chilly conditions in the south, scattered showers in Wales and the southwest, and cloudier skies north.
