BUSINESS LIVE: AZN eyes $80bn in gross sales; Kingfisher massive ticket squeeze

UK grocery inflation fell for the 15th month in a row in May to hit its lowest level since October 2021, fresh data from market researcher Kantar shows.

Annual grocery price inflation was 2.4 per cent in the four weeks to 12 May, down from 3.2 per cent in the previous four week period.

But Kantar noted that prices were still rising quickly for products such as chilled fruit juices and drinks, sugar confectionery and chocolate confectionery.

Consumer price inflation fell to 3.2 per cent in March, driven by a slowdown in food inflation to 4 per cent. Inflation data for April is due to be published on Wednesday.

On a wet and windy night in Washington DC in October 2022, the then Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng came across as a man without a care in the world when he arrived at the temporary residence of Britain’s ambassador to Washington Dame Karen Pierce.

His colourfully attired, extrovert hostess appeared equally relaxed as the English sparkling wine flowed.

It’s looking like a racing certainty that interest rates will be cut this summer, and hopefully, in time to celebrate next month’s Midsummer’s Day.

That’s the clear signal from yesterday’s speech by Ben Broadbent, the outgoing deputy governor of the Bank of England, who said that if the economy evolves as expected, then rates will be cut this summer. Some of us would say: ‘About time too!’

The intervention of Broadbent is both timely and significant because he’s never been outvoted before by colleagues on the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).

B&Q-owner Kingfisher saw underlying sales slip by 0.9 per cent in first-quarter, with resilience in demand for core categories offset by weakness in ‘big-ticket’ sales.

The FTSE-100-listed group, which also owns Screwfix in Britain and Castorama and Brico Depot in France and other markets, said it still expected an adjusted pretax profit for 2024/25 of £490million to £550million, down from the £568million made in 2023/24.

It said its second quarter had started in line with the underlying trends of the first quarter, with group like-for-like sales down 2.5 per cent in the three weeks to 18 May.

‘On the overall market outlook for 2024, we remain cautious due to the lag between housing demand and home improvement demand,’ it added.

There is little evidence that big hikes in fees by Visa and Mastercard on retailers who use their cards have also led to major improvement in service, Britain’s Payment Systems Regulator has said, flagging concerns competition was not working.

Visa and Mastercard have long dominated the market for payment cards, triggering calls from UK lawmakers for closer scrutiny from the PSR, which launched an investigation.

‘The PSR found that over the past five years, and after taking account of volume changes, Mastercard and Visa have increased their scheme and processing fees by more than 30 per cent in real terms. There is little evidence that the quality of service has improved at the same rate,’ the PSR said in a statement.

A major shareholder in Anglo American has backed the miner’s plan to break itself up as the deadline for a fresh BHP bid looms.

Last week, Anglo unveiled a restructuring as it fights off a takeover by its Australian rival.

Legal and General Investment Management (LGIM), which has just under 2 per cent of shares, yesterday said it approved of the proposals, which include a plan to sell the firm’s diamond unit De Beers.

AstraZeneca expects to deliver $80billion in total revenue by 2030, boosted by the expected launch of 20 new medicines and through growth in its existing oncology, biopharmaceuticals and rare disease portfolio, the drugmaker told investors on Tuesday.

The drugmaker said in a statement it would continue to invest in new technologies and platforms that will ‘shape the future of medicine’ beyond 2030.

Pascal Soriot, chief executive of AstraZeneca said: ‘Today AstraZeneca announces a new era of growth.

‘In 2023 we delivered the ambitious $45 billion revenue goal set a decade ago. With the exciting growth of our innovative pipeline, which has the potential to transform millions of lives, we are now aiming for $80 billion by 2030.’