6:38 am, November 28, 2023
Shop price inflation eases for sixth consecutive month
Shop price inflation has eased for the sixth month in a row as retailers compete fiercely for customers ahead of Christmas, figures show.
Shop prices were 4.3% higher than last November, down from October’s 5.2% and the lowest inflation since last June, according to the British Retail Consortium-NielsenIQ Shop Price Index.
Food inflation overall slowed to 7.8% from October’s 8.8%, the seventh consecutive drop and its lowest rate since last July thanks to lower domestic energy prices cutting costs, particularly for dairy products, with fresh food inflation slowing to 6.7% from the previous month’s 8.3%.
Transport secretary hails transatlantic flight using greener fuel
The first transatlantic flight by a large passenger aircraft using pure sustainable aviation fuel ‘shows how we can decarbonise transport’, transport secretary Mark Harper has said ahead of its planned departure from Heathrow today.
Virgin Atlantic will operate the flight to JFK Airport in New York with a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.
Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson, Harper and Virgin Atlantic chief executive Shai Weiss will be among the passengers on the flight, which isn’t carrying fare-paying travellers.
BT backs out of musicMagpie takeover talks
MusicMagpie has seen its shares slump after telecoms giant BT pulled out of talks to take over the refurbished-electronics retailer.
BT said it wasn’t planning to make an offer for the group, just days after private equity firm Aurelius Group, which owns Footasylum and The Body Shop, also backed out of discussions.
Shares in musicMagpie tumbled by 16.25% yesterday to finish on 16.5p after the news. It floated on the stock market two and a half years ago with a valuation of more than £200m, but its shares are now worth less than £20m. The firm is continuing to seek possible buyers.
Greek PM says Sunak scrapped Elgin Marbles talks at 11th hour
The Greek prime minister has expressed disappointment that Rishi Sunak ‘cancelled’ a meeting in which he planned to raise the prospect of the return of the Elgin Marbles.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis had been expecting to meet Sunak yesterday during his visit to London.
But a source on the Greek side said he and his team had been left ‘baffled, surprised and not a little bit annoyed’ at an apparent sudden cancellation. Downing Street suggested a meeting with deputy PM Oliver Dowden had been offered instead.
CBI calls for green investment plan and end to short-termism
One of the main groups representing British businesses has called for a new green investment plan to help the UK economy grow sustainably.
The Confederation of British Industry called on political parties to end short-termism and look to the future ahead of an expected election next year.
Director-general Rain Newton-Smith said: ‘The UK economy needs to shift gears from short-term shock absorption to taking the long-term decisions needed to unlock its true potential.’
Software firm Cloudsmith announces £8.8m investment
A Belfast-based software supply chain management firm has announced an £8.8m investment.
Cloudsmith will use the funding to expand operations for its global client base, including software companies such as Shopify, PagerDuty, Font Awesome, HP and EnterpriseDB.
The funding, led by MMC Ventures, will bolster the firm’s ability to deliver a software supply chain platform.
20,000 lives a year could be saved by 2040 ‘if government adopts cancer plan’
Some 20,000 lives could be saved every year in the UK by 2040 if the government adopts a bold new plan for cancer, experts have said.
Cancer Research UK has published a report calling for more action to speed up diagnoses, get people treated quickly and recruit 16,000 more full-time cancer staff by 2029.
The NHS has already set a target to diagnose 75% of cancers at the earliest stages of one or two by 2028 but experts have said this target will be missed.
Threat of further Scottish school strikes over as Unison staff accept pay deal
Industrial action that saw thousands of children across Scotland miss out on days of school will come to an end after support staff voted to accept a new pay deal.
The long-running dispute has been brought to a close after Unison members voted to accept an improved offer following strike action last month.
Unison was the last union to accept a pay deal, which will see the raise backdated to April 2023, after the Unite and GMB unions had already agreed to a deal.
Thousands of business leaders call on PM to commit to clear climate action plan
More than 2,000 business leaders and professionals have called on Rishi Sunak to take urgent action that enables the UK to regain its global climate leader status at Cop28.
Business Declares, a coalition of companies and professionals calling for climate action, handed a letter signed by more than 2,000 business leaders in to Downing Street yesterday.
The letter calls on the PM to take firm and swift action, enabling the UK to regain its global climate leader status at Cop28, which takes place in Dubai from November 30 to December 12.
Ineos Automotive begins production of Grenadier Quartermaster
The first series production Grenadier Quartermaster double cab pick-ups have started rolling off Ineos Automotive’s production line in France.
Customer deliveries in Europe are due to start in December, with shipments to the Asia-Pacific, sub-Saharan Africa and Middle East regions following soon after.
North American sales of the Quartermaster, which was unveiled at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July, are scheduled to begin in early 2024.
Yesterday’s headlines on Car Dealer you might have missed
- Used car price ‘correction’ continues with trade values falling 4.2% AGAIN in November
- Car dealer and consumer titles unite to see eBay Motors Group rebrand as Motors
- McLaren is given another £80m from Bahraini owner to help ease crisis
- Business secretary details £4.5bn funding plan to boost British manufacturing in race to net zero
Market movements
The FTSE 100 closed 27.50 points down yesterday to end the day on 7,460.70. The Cac 40 was down 27.31 points at 7,265.49, the Dax was down 63.12 points at 15,966.37 and the Dow Jones was down 56.68 points at 35,333.47.
Weather outlook
Today is expected to be chilly and bright for many with sunny spells, says BBC Weather. Scotland will have showers, mostly towards the north and east, falling as snow on the hills and sleet at lower levels.
Wednesday will see another dry and bright day for many, with a few lingering showers in south-western areas and on North Sea coasts. It’ll be cloudier in northern Scotland, with scattered sleet and snow showers.
