1 Food prices rose by a record 13.3 per cent in December, raising fears that inflation may not fall as sharply in 2023 as had been hoped. War in Ukraine led to rises in the costs of animal feed, fertiliser and energy, according to the latest monthly shop prices index published by the British Retail Consortium and NielsenIQ. It is the highest rise recorded since the index began in 2005.
2 Apple is worth $1 trillion less than a year ago after the technology company’s market value fell to just shy of $2 trillion. The group started 2022 as the first business to clinch a valuation of more than $3 trillion.
3 Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the failed FTX cryptocurrency exchange, has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges in a Manhattan court after prosecutors accused him of orchestrating one of America’s largest ever financial frauds. US District Judge Lewis Kaplan set a trial date of October 2.
4 Aldi, the German budget supermarket chain, reported a 26 per cent annual increase in sales in the month of December to reach £1.4 billion in the UK for the first time. New store openings helped to drive the rise in receipts.
5 Shares in Tesla reversed by 13 per cent after its robust delivery growth last year failed to meet an ambitious target. The group delivered 1,313,851 cars last year, up 40 per cent on the previous year but short of the 50 per cent forecast by Elon Musk.
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6 Private equity firms are sitting on an “overwhelming” mountain of capital for takeovers, which they are poised to put to work by swooping on London-listed companies. Peel Hunt said Europe’s private equity industry was estimated to have accumulated a €270 billion war-chest ready to be invested.
7 Britain’s manufacturing industry ended 2022 with its lowest output in more than two years. S&P Global recorded a fifth straight month of contraction, with December having the lowest activity in 31 months.
8 Trading in the shares of Home Reit has been suspended after the self-styled “landlord for the homeless” was unable to get its annual accounts signed off in time following a recent attack on its business model and practices from a short-seller.
9 Cineworld is preparing to sound out potential buyers, but the company, which is discussing a Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan in America, insisted that neither it nor its advisers and lenders had held talks with AMC Entertainment on “the sale of any of its cinema assets”.
10 Toby Harris, chief executive of State of Play, the company behind Flight Club and concepts such as mini-golf and ping-pong bars, says landlords have realised that people are prepared to go for a night out but are looking for something extra to make the evening truly memorable.