Media Bites 22 April: Asda, Unilever, Getir | News

Zuber Issa is close to selling his stake in Asda to TDR Capital in a deal that would tighten the private equity firm’s control over Britain’s third biggest supermarket chain. (The Times £)

Asda’s billionaire bosses forged ahead with a botched IT transition despite being warned in advance that thousands of workers would be paid incorrectly (Telegraph £). Bosses at Asda were warned in advance that IT changes could cause employees to be paid incorrectly (The Times £).

Asda has returned to profit, new figures show. The news comes as one of the Issa brothers who backed Asda’s debt-fuelled buy-out is about to sell his stake to private equity group TDR Capital (Daily Mail).

Unilever could be forced to hold onto a multi-billion pound slice of its ice cream empire, according to senior City sources, as the sheer size of the operations make it difficult to find a buyer (Telegraph £). Doubts are simmering over the spin-off of the ice-cream arm at Unilever as the £95bn giant prepares to unveil its first-quarter trading statement on Thursday (Daily Mail)

Unilever has watered down a series of environmental and social pledges months after its boss said it would stop “force-fitting” social justice messaging on to its brands. (The Times £)

Getir, the grocery delivery app once valued at nearly $12bn (£9.7bn), is close to pulling the plug on its operations in Britain in a move that would spark concerns for well over 1,000 jobs (Sky News). About 1,500 jobs could be at risk amid plans by Getir to withdraw from the British market (The Times £).

Ocado is under pressure from shareholders to consider abandoning London for New York, threatening another severe blow to the beleaguered UK stock market. (Telegraph £)

Iceland has dropped the outdated “That’s why mums go to Iceland” slogan to reflect the fact that other people also do grocery shopping (The Guardian). Iceland has dropped its famous “That’s why mums go to Iceland” tagline as part of a drive to be more inclusive (Sky News).

British retail sales unexpectedly stagnated in March as a contraction in food and department store purchases offset growth at clothing stores and petrol stations (Financial Times £). Retail sales in Britain stalled unexpectedly in March, with the early Easter holiday failing to stimulate spending amid pressure from high interest rates and stubborn inflation (The Times £). Retail sales unexpectedly stagnated in March as Britain struggles its way out of recession (Telegraph £). Retail sales in Great Britain unexpectedly stalled in March as consumers cut back on spending because of the cost of living, according to new data (The Guardian). Retail sales ground to a halt last month as shoppers turned their backs on department stores because of rising prices (Daily Mail). Official figures show that there is yet to be a significant pick-up in spending despite the pace of wage growth outstripping the rate of inflation since last summer (Sky News).

Amid surging demand among British drinkers for Spanish lager, the family-owned Estrella Damm is investing €60m (£50m) in building a state-of-the-art brewery in Bedford. (The Times £)

Bridgepoint has appointed advisers to explore options including a sale for Vitamin Well, a Swedish drinks business that the UK-listed private equity group has owned for eight years. (Financial Times £)

Village shopkeepers say Tesco is consistently undercutting them by selling products for less in its stores than via its wholesale business Booker, stoking concerns about the power of the UK’s biggest supermarket chain. (The Guardian)

The chief executive of Tesco is in line for a record-breaking £10m pay day this year. (Daily Mail)

Middle East and Chinese investors hover around Selfridges. Thailand’s Central Group is looking for ways to take greater control of the department store chain amid a financial meltdown engulfing its Austrian co-owner, Signa. (The Times £)

Lower commodity costs and an apparently insatiable appetite among American and European consumers to buy expensive brands have prompted Procter & Gamble to increase its annual profit outlook. (The Times £)

Small and medium-sized importers of food and plants from the EU will face punitive monthly charges running into tens of thousands of pounds when post-Brexit border checks come into force at the end of this month, industry bodies have warned. (Financial Times £)

From chicken to bread: how wild price swings are affecting our food. Poultry costs are still being hammered by the war in Ukraine, where much of the UK’s feed grain is produced, and the recent threat from bird flu could mean even higher prices. (The Times £)

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex has plumped for strawberry jam as the first product of her new lifestyle brand. Described as the “soft launch” of American Riviera Orchard, the Duchess was revealing a new company whose US patent registration mentions jams and jellies, plus other items including tableware, kitchen linens and recipe books. (Financial Times £)

An anticipated bidding war for one of Britain’s biggest packaging companies came to nothing on Friday night, sending shares in the two rival companies to opposite ends of the FTSE 100. Mondi disappointed City investors hoping for a transatlantic tug-of-war for DS Smith by walking away from a £5.1 billion offer first tabled in March. (The Times £)

The spouse of a director at AG Barr has bought £59,300 worth of shares in the FTSE 250 drinks company. (Financial Times £)

The company behind two of the UK’s most popular vape brands says new reusable versions leave it “well-equipped” to deal with the upcoming ban on disposables, despite concerns over producers exploiting “loopholes”. (BBC)

Solar Foods, has started production at a site in Vantaa, near the Finnish capital of Helsinki, on Europe’s first factory dedicated to making human food from electricity and air. (The Guardian)