Friday 15 March 2024

Capri-Sun Recyclable

 
Capri Sun has announced a first-to-market launch with its redesigned recyclable drink pouches – rolling out across retail, convenience, wholesale and foodservice channels. The 200ml single serve pouches come in Orange and Blackcurrant & Apple flavours, and will be the first of the Capri-Sun range to transition to the new packaging. Made entirely of mono material polypropylene (PP), it is the first juice drink pouch to be recognised as recyclable and joins other soft plastics, such as carrier bags, that can be collected for recycling at large supermarkets in the UK. The new mono pouches have a significantly lower carbon footprint than any other common beverage packaging, reducing CO₂ emissions by a further 25% compared to its current pouch, which already weighs only a fifth of a comparable PET bottle. Senior marketing manager at Capri-Sun UK Anke von Hanstein said: “We’re excited to launch our very first recyclable pouch in the UK. We know that sustainability is increasingly influencing purchase decisions among parents and we as Capri-Sun need to do our part to help families. That’s why we’re launching the product they love in a more sustainable format.”

More Cuts at John Lewis

John Lewis has indicated it could cut jobs further, despite the retailer reporting a return to profit. The retail partnership, which also owns the Waitrose supermarket chain, posted pre-tax profits of £56m compared with a £234m loss the year before. However, it is not paying a staff bonus for the second year in a row. The retailer said a "few hundred" roles were shed in 2023 as part of £88m in savings and it was eyeing similar cost cuts this year. John Lewis's new chief executive, Nish Kankiwala, told the PA news agency: "We're looking at all the opportunities as we improve our ways of working and if there is eventually a reduction in roles, then we'll use (staff) attrition in the same way as we have done in the past. "If there are unfortunately, regrettably, redundancies then we'll talk to our partners first." John Lewis chair Dame Sharon White told journalists that while job losses at the partnership are inevitable in the coming years, there was no target for a reduction in jobs. In January, John Lewis said it was planning further cuts to its workforce over the next five years in order to boost profitability. The lack of bonus for staff is only the third time the retailer has not paid out such an award since 1953. John Lewis said that is was focusing on improving pay overall for its employees, with about 45,000 staff set to get a 10% pay rise in April. Sales of fashion and beauty products did well, but it saw weaker sales in home and technology. Plans to refurbish 80 Waitrose supermarkets and open a string of new branches would allow for "continued improvement" in profit this year, the group said.

McOutage

 
McDonald's has revealed the technical problems which brought much of its fast food chain to a standstill on Friday were caused by a third party provider. The international restaurant said the global outage happened during a "configuration change" and stopped stores taking orders in the UK, Australia and Japan - amongst others. McDonald's stressed the issue was not caused by a cyber attack. Stores in the UK and Australia are open again after their systems froze. The company experienced a "global technology system outage, which was quickly identified and corrected," McDonald's chief information officer Brian Rice, said. Problems started in the early hours and continued throughout the morning, but the company would not say how many stores were affected. Problems were reported in several countries, including New Zealand, Austria and Germany, but come the afternoon they were starting to get resolved. The fast food chain has about 40,000 restaurants worldwide, with around 1,450 restaurants across the UK and Ireland and more than 14,000 stores in the United States. It operates nearly 3,000 across Japan and roughly 1,000 in Australia.

Thursday 7 March 2024

Sainsburys Job Cut

Sainsbury's has announced it is cutting around 1,500 jobs, subject to consultation, as part of plans it hopes will save around £1bn over three years. The retailer said roles would be lost at its contact centre in Cheshire, in-store bakeries, and some local fulfilment centres. Some staff will be redeployed, with alternative roles found "where possible". The savings will be invested back into the business, the retailer added. The supermarket said it had begun moving to a more efficient way of baking goods in-store, and had outlined plans to move more stores to the model. Sainsbury's said it had reassured colleagues that it would find alternative roles for them where possible, as it would "for any colleague affected by changes proposed". Sainsbury's chief executive Simon Roberts summed up the changes as the next part of its strategy to deliver value and good service to customers, while making "difficult but necessary decisions". "I know today's news is unsettling for affected colleagues and we will do everything we can to support them," he added.

Sidemen Cereal Launch

Cereal brand Best, which has been created by British YouTube collective The Sidemen, has made its retail debut exclusively in Tesco as influencer-led brands continue to flourish. The HFSS-compliant products were developed by cereal manufacturer Mornflake and are available in flavours Choco Crunch and Caramel Gold. Both variants are made with a combination of wheat and oat puffs with added minerals and vitamins B12, D and E. The cereal, which is priced at £2 for a 375g box, is also a source of fibre and low in fat, salt and sugar, with one bowl containing just over 100 calories. Best will be donating a significant proportion of its profits directly to Magic Breakfast, a charity working to ensure children have access to a filling breakfast every day. The Sidemen’s manager Jordan Schwarzenberger added: “It’s brilliant to be working with the best cereal manufacturer in the UK, Mornflake, to make this product for The Sidemen, and to have secured such strong distribution with Tesco at the start of this brand’s journey. To support the launch of the new brand they have signed up 17-year old dart sensation Luke Littler to be part of their promotional campaign.

Greggs Profit Sharing

Thousands of Greggs workers will share a £17.6m bonus pot this month after the bakery chain famous for its sausage rolls and steak bakes said it had made a record annual profit and overtaken McDonald’s to become the UK’s most popular breakfast spot. Britain’s biggest bakery chain said 25,000 employees – out of a total of 32,000 across the UK – would receive a bonus in their pay packets at the end of March, as it reported a 27% jump in profits to £188m. Under a profit share agreement, Greggs shares 10% of profits each year with staff who have worked at the chain for at least six months. The payment to each employee varies: for example, someone working 22 hours a week with six years’ service will receive £765. Greggs said there was better news for its customers, too, with no further price rises planned this year. It increased prices by between 5p and 10p on some items in December but held down the cost of bestselling items including its sausage rolls and vegan sausage rolls. Greggs runs 2,473 shops after 145 net openings last year, including at Canary Wharf and Waterloo stations in London and at Gatwick airport. It intends to open up to 160 net new shops this year, as it is aiming for more than 3,000 UK stores over the longer term. Greggs shares were up 5% on Tuesday morning, making it one of the biggest risers on the FTSE 250.

Thursday 29 February 2024

PlayStation Job Cut

 
Sony has announced it will lay off 8% of PlayStation employees globally, amounting to approximately 900 people. In addition to cuts in the US and Japan, the gaming giant said this would mean closing PlayStation's London Studio entirely. In a blog post sharing an email sent to employees, boss Jim Ryan called the move "sad news" and said it was "a difficult day at our company". "We have concluded that tough decisions have become inevitable," he said. "The leadership team and I made the incredibly difficult decision to restructure operations, which regrettably includes a reduction in our workforce impacting very talented individuals who have contributed to our success." The cuts come a month after rival Microsoft revealed plans to lay off 1,900 people in its gaming division, which included those at recently-acquired Activision-Blizzard.Sony's London Studio was founded in 2002 as a result of the merging of two other London-based studios under the PlayStation brand. Over the past two decades, it created several series including karaoke game SingStar and 2000s football title This Is Football. More recently, it made virtual reality (VR) games exclusive to Sony's headset, including VR Worlds and the well-received shooter Blood & Truth. According to LinkedIn, the studio has between 51 and 200 employees, and it was working on "an unannounced online co-op combat game" set in London before the announcement. Sony's PlayStation 5 has sold more than 50 million units worldwide, more than double Microsoft's Xbox Series X/S sales. But another gaming rival, Nintendo, which released its Switch console three years earlier, has sold almost 140 million units worldwide. And Sony said in its earnings report in February that it now expected to sell four million fewer consoles than expected by the end of March. Despite PlayStation's revenue being up by 16% compared to the same period one year earlier, its operating income had fallen by a quarter.