Dutch brewing giant Heineken said Wednesday revenue was down for the third quarter despite better beer sales but it kept full-year targets in place.
The company, whose brands include Amstel, Kingfisher and Savanna cider said net revenue fell by some €528 million to €9.072 billion (£7.54bn) in the three months to end of September.
The Amsterdam-based brewer did not give specific reasons for the drop, but it did say net revenue was squeezed by currency devaluations in Brazil, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Mexico.
Premium beer volumes jumped by 4.5 per cent for the quarter, while overall beer volumes grew by 0.7 per cent.
Heineken chief executive Dolf van den Brink spoke of a "solid quarter of balanced growth".
"Our business continues to deliver in line with our plan in aggregate, despite some markets navigating challenging consumer and industry trends," he said in a statement.
"We confirm and reiterate our full year outlook to grow operating profit (beia) organically in the range of four to eight percent," Van den Brink said.
Aldi is set to open nine stores in the capital this year as part of a £55 million investment within the M25.
Building on its promise to bring unbeatable value to even more Londoners, the supermarket has revealed four of the locations set to welcome new Aldi stores in the next 12 months.
Shoppers in Wimbledon, Fulham Broadway, Caterham and Orpington are all set to benefit from a new Aldi store in 2025.
The openings form part of Aldi’s £650 million investment in Britain in 2025.
The investment also includes upgrades at some of its existing locations within the M25, including an extension to its Colindale store.
Aldi has a long-term ambition to open another 100 stores in London, creating around 3,500 new jobs.
Jonathan Neale, managing director of National Real Estate at Aldi UK, said: “We strongly believe that everyone in Britain should have access to high quality food at our unbeatable Aldi prices. But we know that there are still thousands of shoppers in the capital that don’t yet have access to an Aldi nearby.
“We don’t think it’s fair that so many people still have to make do with big prices at other supermarkets, which is why London continues to be a real focus for us as we work to bring even more Aldi stores to shoppers across the capital.”
Aldi has been named by Which? as officially the UK’s cheapest supermarket of the year for 2024, the fourth year in a row the supermarket has picked up the title.
Co-op on Friday (17) launched its first new store of 2025 in Salford Quays as the convenience retailer embarks on plans to accelerate convenience growth.
The new Co-op convenience store is located in commercial retail space on the ground floor of the Anchorage Gateway, Salford Quays - a 29-story residential development located close to the area’s media, education and cultural hubs.
The launch of the new Salford Quays store comes after the retailer revealed ambitions to open up to 75 new stores this year, consisting of both Co-op estate stores and Franchise stores.
In addition, Co-op has plans for around 80 further stores to undertake major refurbishments in 2025 - transforming the stores to serve and support their communities and to maximise the potential of Co-op’s existing portfolio of properties.
The Salford Quays store offers an extensive range of fresh, healthy produce; food-to-go and meal deals, Fairtrade products, an in store bakery, hot food and award winning wines. Supporting UK farmers all of Co-op’s fresh meat – including in its ready meals, pies and sandwiches - is 100 per cent British.
Member prices create additional value for Co-op’s member-owners, with lower prices on the products shoppers buy most.
Added services include Costa Coffee Express, payment services via PayPoint and parcel collection and returns through an InPost locker.
The store will act as a fulfilment hub for Co-op’s leading Quick Commerce operation, with the online delivery of groceries becoming available shortly after launch via Co-op’s partners Just Eat, Uber Eats and Deliveroo. Orders are picked fresh in the local store, and delivered quickly and conveniently to homes and offices locally.
Soft plastic recycling is also available in the store, enabling consumers to return harder to recycle materials such as crisp packets and bread bags, lids from ready meals, biscuit wrappers and, pet food pouches.
Rachel Hargreaves, Director of Property, Development and Estates, Co-op, said, “I am delighted to see Co-op’s first new store of 2025 launch. We are working to acquire new retail space, both freehold and leasehold, and to maximise the potential of our existing estate as part of our convenience growth ambitions.
"Our stores are designed to be a destination locally, a community hub combining great quality products, value, deals and ethical retailing with quick online delivery services, community participation and additional customer services – we have a clear focus on growing our convenience business, and enhancing the value we create and deliver for our member-owners and their communities.”
Simon Williams, Co-op’s Salford Quays Store Manager, said, “The whole team is excited to launch Co-op’s newest store, and Co-op’s first new store of the year.
"We pride ourselves on being able to deliver the quality, choice, added services and value which can be enjoyed by everyone, and we are really looking forward to welcoming residents, office workers and, those visiting Salford Quays and all that it has to offer into Co-op’s new store. We’re here to contribute to local life and conveniently serve and support our community.”
Co-op’s Anchorage store opens between 7am-10pm daily. With other Co-op stores in Salford Quays including those in Media City which launched in 2022, and in Clippers Quay.
A shop accused of selling vodka, vapes and tobacco to children has had its licence revoked by Buckinghamshire Council.
At least 65 complaints have been made about the Stoke Convenience Store at 59 Stoke Road, Aylesbury since 2022.
Most of these relate to underage sales, according to Trading Standards, which successfully obtained a closure order against the shop last month through High Wycombe Magistrates Court.
A review of the licence was then carried out by councillors on the council’s sub-licensing committee on 9 January.
During the meeting, shopkeeper Sivagnanam Pakeerathan ‘pleaded’ with members to let the business keep its licence, which was held by Mr Suthakaran Krishnapillai, the shop’s owner.
Speaking through a translator, he denied the shop had frequently made underage sales, but said it had ‘made mistakes’ and that his wife had sold a vape to an underage person on one occasion.
However, Cllr Phil Gomm told the meeting the shop had ignored warnings.
He said: “You asked us to treat you kindly, maybe not to revoke the licence. But you are asking us to trust you to not do what you have been doing.”
The meeting was presented with dozens of pages of complaints and witness statements about the shop serving minors and selling counterfeit goods, which were compiled by the council, Trading Standards and Thames Valley Police.
They include a police complaint that a bottle of vodka was sold to two boys in October 2024, as well as a mum’s harrowing account of seeing her daughter being stretchered into an ambulance in June last year after allegedly drinking vodka from the shop and collapsing outside McDonald’s.
Mr Pakeerathan ‘took over the shop’ in 2021 and said he was ‘deceived big time’ by the person who sold the store as he realised its daily takings were only around £300 – lower than he expected.
He told the meeting customers would request certain brands of illegal vapes and cigarettes.
Despite popular demand for the illicit goods, he claimed the Stoke Convenience Store ‘did not sell these items for the next year’.
However, he said this resulted in customers ‘deserting’ the business, resulting in ‘many problems’ and the Stoke Convenience Store being ‘unable to pay its bills’.
Mr Pakeerathan said the shop’s takings had since increased, but that the business had spent £100,000 on buying the shop and around £30,000 on refurbishing the premises.
He told meeting they therefore felt ‘trapped in the wrong place’.
Trust in UK-produced food has reached its highest level since 2021 following three years of falling confidence in standards.
Most (75 per cent) adults now say they trust food produced in the UK. This is a rise from 71 per cent in 2023, although still below the level of trust felt by shoppers in 2021 (81 per cent).
The figure rises to 91 per cent when consumers are asked whether they trust food "exclusively produced" within the UK.
Significantly, more people now say they trust UK food more than NHS care, water from the tap, or any other core service or utility.
A clear majority (85 per cent) of respondents to the survey say they trust the country's farmers, compared to just 9 per cent of whom express distrust.
Animal welfare remains the most important aspect of food production for consumers, and 72 per cent of adults say farmers follow good animal welfare standards.
And a majority of respondents (72 per cent) say that assurance labels were a reason to trust food, while 77 per cent say that labels showing where food comes from helps build trust.
The findings, which draw on research from over 3,000 UK consumers, form part of Red Tractor’s annual Trust in Food Index. First produced in 2021, it is designed to provide the most comprehensive assessment of consumer attitudes to food in the UK.
Jim Moseley, CEO of Red Tractor, said the past four years had been 'brutal' for the food and farming industry. Farmers have particularly faced a series of challenges, such as severe weather events, poor harvests, and the prospect of rising taxes on the horizon.
"Not since the foot-and-mouth crisis over 20 years ago has the food industry had so much to contend with," he said.
But this year’s findings will likely give a boost following years of rising costs and higher prices for consumers.
Meanwhile, the importance of the Red Tractor logo when choosing food has risen to its highest level in the four years since the Trust in Food Index began.
Moseley concluded, "It should be a source of huge pride to everyone involved in food production in the UK that food is now more trusted than water or any other basic service we rely on every day
"Despite the extremely challenging environment, farmers’ efforts to work to some of the highest standards in the world has played a significant role in driving a resurgence of consumer trust in UK food."