Prezzo will shut 46 loss-making restaurants hit hard by soaring pasta and energy costs, as well as poor footfall.
The Italian restaurant group said the closures would put about 810 jobs at risk.
The company’s utility costs have more than doubled amid surging energy prices since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
It has also been impacted by soaring food inflation, which hit a 45-year high last month.
Prezzo has been battling a 40pc increase in the cost of spaghetti, 28pc rise for pizza sauce and 15pc increase in the cost of its dough balls.
The company said the shake-up will impact a raft of sites where footfall is still below pre-pandemic levels.
It will leave restaurants in busier shopping destinations such as retail parks or tourist hot-spots.
Dean Challenger, chief executive of Prezzo, said: “The last three years have been some of the hardest times I have ever seen for the high street and I’m extremely proud of the way our colleagues have retained Prezzo’s position as an appealing, trusted, great value food and drink experience.
“But the reality is that the cost-of-living crisis, the changing face of the high street and soaring inflation has made it impossible to keep all our restaurants operating profitably.”
Read the latest updates below.
12:51 PM
The Prezzo restaurants that will close
Here is a full list of all the Prezzo restaurants that are due to close:
– Beccles, Suffolk
– Billericay, Essex
– Bolton, Greater Manchester
– Borehamwood, Hertfordshire
– Boston, Lincolnshire
– Bracknell, Berkshire
– Brentwood, Essex
– Buckhurst Hill, Essex
– Buckingham, Buckinghamshire
– Chichester, West Sussex
– Chingford, London
– Colchester, Essex
– Corby, Northamptonshire
– Didcot, Oxfordshire
– Eastbourne, East Sussex
– Egham, Surrey
– Eltham, London
– Ely, Cambridgeshire
– Epsom, Surrey
– Fleet, Hampshire
– Glasgow, St Vincent Place
– Hailsham, East Sussex
– Harpenden, Hertfordshire
– Livingston, West Lothian
– Lyndhurst, Hampshire
– Maidstone, Kent
– Mere Green, Birmingham
– Mill Hill, London
– Oxford, Oxfordshire
– Plymouth, Devon
– Redditch, Worcestershire
– Redhill, Surrey
– Rugby, Warwickshire
– Shepperton, Surrey
– Shirley, Warwickshire
– Sidcup, London
– St Neots, Cambridgeshire
– Stowmarket, Suffolk
– Tenterden, Kent
– Tunbridge Wells, Kent
– Weybridge, Surrey
– Whitstable, Kent
– Wickford, Essex
– Wimborne, Dorset
– Winchester, Hampshire
– Woodford Green, London
12:34 PM
Coca-Cola boosted by rising prices
Coca-Cola reported higher-than-expected sales in the first quarter as it continued to increase prices and saw its business in China improve.
Revenue rose 5pc to $11bn (£8.8bn) in the first three months of the year, beating Wall Street’s expectations.
Adjusted for one-time items, the Atlanta beverage giant earned 68 cents per share. That also beat analysts’ forecast of a 65 cents.
Pricing and mix – which includes changes in package sizes – contributed 11pc to its revenue growth while concentrate sales rose 1pc. The company has said it expects to see slower growth this year as prices moderate.
Unit case volumes jumped 10pc in Asia as Covid-related shutdowns ended in China.
12:08 PM
Prezzo to close 46 restaurants
Italian restaurant chain Prezzo has said it will close 46 loss-making sites, putting around 810 workers at risk of redundancy.
The company said the sites have been hit hard by soaring costs and changes to customer habits.
The Italian restaurant group added that the closures come after utility costs more-than doubled.
It said the shake-up will impact a raft of sites where footfall is still below pre-pandemic levels and leave more restaurants in busier shopping destinations such as retail parks or tourist hot-spots.
12:05 PM
US markets expected to fall ahead of major company reports
Wall Street is on track to open lower later as investors await earnings from big technology companies as well as economic data – potentially offering clues on the state of the US economy.
Market heavyweights including Google-owner Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta, whose shares have supported markets this year, are scheduled to report results this week.
Whether the rally continues could depend on the companies beating already-lowered first-quarter estimates.
Wall Street has largely held steady through the start of the earnings season as results from the big banks came in stronger than expected, allaying concerns about a contagion from the banking crisis in March.
Coca-Cola has risen 1.5pc in premarket trading after reporting earnings per share ahead of market expectations.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 are each on course to open about 0.2pc lower.
11:52 AM
German economy ‘stagnating,’ says Ifo
Germany’s economy is “stagnating” according to economists, even as the country’s business outlook unexpectedly improved for a sixth month.
An expectations gauge by the Ifo Institute rose to 92.2 from a revised 91 the previous month as the economy gradually recovers from the energy shock caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Ifo President Clemens Fuest told Bloomberg TV:
We will continue to see this economy which is neither collapsing nor growing dynamically.
It’s a stagnating economy and the question is what could take the economy out of stagnation.
Something that could achieve that would be further improvement in supply chains, and maybe a perspective for a settlement in the Ukraine war.
Meanwhile, Bundesbank has said a stronger-than-expected recovery in manufacturing at the start of the year probably helped Germany dodge a recession.
Europe’s largest economy grew slightly in the first quarter, the central bank said in its monthly report released today.
11:26 AM
Tourist tax is holding back Britain, Burberry chief tells Sunak
The chairman of Burberry has attacked the Government’s decision to reinstate a “tourism tax” on the British economy as he questioned the Prime Minister at a business event.
Gerry Murphy said it was a “spectacular own goal” to remove the refund on VAT enjoyed by overseas visitors.
At the Business Connect event in London, Mr Murphy said Burberry had seen improvements in Paris and Munich since Covid, but said the UK’s “is by far the weakest recovery in the world as major markets”.
He asked Rishi Sunak to revisit the decision to abolish tax-free shopping for tourists, saying it was a “bad decision made for the right reasons” given the pressures on the public finances.
Mr Sunak insisted there are “good reasons” for charging tourists VAT but said “we’ll take that away,” adding he is “happy to see all the data”.
11:06 AM
LVMH becomes first European $500bn company
LVMH’s market value has surpassed $500bn, becoming the first European company to reach that milestone, thanks to booming sales of luxury goods in China and a strengthening euro.
The achievement comes less than two weeks after LVMH joined the ranks of the world’s 10 biggest companies, powered by a surge in first-quarter sales.
Rival Hermes International subsequently published its own strong numbers, reinforcing the view that China’s reopening from pandemic lockdowns is fueling growth across the industry.
The company’s rising value has swelled the wealth of the world’s richest person, Bernard Arnault, who built LVMH into a global powerhouse through a series of acquisitions.
His fortune stands at almost $212 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Shares of Paris-based LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, as the company is formally known, climbed 0.3pc to €903.70 this morning, valuing the company at €454bn ($500bn, £401bn).
10:41 AM
One in 20 unable to afford to buy more food, says ONS
One in twenty Britons ran out of food and could not afford to buy more, new figures show, as the cost of living crisis continues to hammer household budgets.
Senior economics reporter Eir Nolsøe has the latest:
New research from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that in February 5pc of the population was so stretched financially that they had insufficient money to buy more food after running out.
Around one in five people also said they were unable to keep comfortably warm in their home in the previous two weeks.
The grim finding comes as food prices rose at the fastest pace in more than 45 years in March, with costs 19.2pc higher than a year ago.
According to the ONS, a 43-year-old woman taking part in the research said:
“I regularly go without food to make sure my kids get fed, even though I need to eat regular balanced meals because I’m diabetic.”
Another 61-year-old woman who was experiencing energy security also told the statistics office:
“This has been the worst winter I have experienced physically. Feeling cold at home, unable to put heating on has caused me to feel low and depressed.”
10:30 AM
Sunak thanks Anya Hindmarch for presents for his wife
Rishi Sunak has been taking questions from the audience at the Business Connect event – and has given us an insight into his wife’s taste in handbags.
The Prime Minister took a question from Anya Hindmarch, who founded her eponymous luxury fashion accessory business in London in 1987, growing it into a global brand.
Mr Sunak began his response by thanking Ms Hindmarch for providing lots of presents for his wife, Akshata Murthy, the the heiress daughter of NR Narayana Murthy, a founder of the Indian multinational IT company Infosys.
Anya Hindmarch’s designer cross-body bags cost up to £1,195.
Asked later in the Q&A what he is doing to strengthen the UK’s ties with India, Mr Sunak replied: “I’m trying to take more family holidays.”
10:11 AM
Britain is ‘turning a corner’, PM tells bosses
The Prime Minister has opened his major business event aimed at filling the void left behind by the scandal-hit Confederation of British Industry.
Our chief business correspondent Oliver Gill is there for us:
Rishi Sunak told more than 200 chief executives and investors at the Business Connect summit that his Government is “unashamedly pro business”.
He believes Britain is “turning a corner” and “our job is to build on this momentum”.
He also said the UK needs more investment, underlying how Britain has the lowest corporation tax rate in the G7, despite it rising from 19pc to 25pc in the Chancellor’s Budget last month.
He added that “we know where future growth is going to come from,” pointing to the CCTP trade deal signed with Indo-Pacific nations this year.
Mr Sunak said he wants the UK to be a “beacon for the world – a most successful talented people”.
09:52 AM
Elon Musk must be reined in, say Tesla investors
A group of Tesla investors have accused the company of mismanagement and are seeking a meeting with its board to discuss the performance of chief executive Elon Musk.
The 17 shareholders, who hold more than $1.5bn of Tesla stock, said Mr Musk is distracted by his commitments to other companies and must be reined in, according to an open letter they sent to chairman Robyn Denholm and director Ira Ehrenpreis on Friday.
They want the board to come up with a plan to do so and seek to remove directors too closely tied to the chief executive.
“There is collective frustration,” said Ivan Frishberg, the chief sustainability officer for Amalgamated Bank, a union-owned bank that has 722,070 shares in Tesla across its various funds.
“Over the last year, it became quite clear that Tesla suffers from a governance problem.”
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment about the letter.
The letter from shareholders about Tesla chief executive Elon Musk comes as the carmaker faces a list of challenges.
Last week, the company reported lacklustre first-quarter earnings after aggressive price cuts undertaken to fend off competitors squeezed profit.
Mr Musk said he plans to slash prices further, even if it hurts margins, sending the stock plunging 9.7pc on Thursday.
As Tesla’s stock fell, Mr Musk was watching a rocket from another company he founded and runs — SpaceX — explode above Boca Chica, Texas, shortly after liftoff.
The Texas-based carmaker is now worth half its $1.2trn market cap on April 4, 2022, when Musk first disclosed his stake in Twitter, the investors pointed out. He ultimately bought the social media company and has run it since October.
Courtney Wicks, executive director of Investor Advocates for Social Justice, said:
It is unprecedented to be a CEO and also be running two other companies at the same time.
I can’t imagine any other board allowing a CEO to have as many outside business activities.
09:34 AM
Ex-Asda boss rescues online butcher
The former boss of supermarket Asda has led a rescue of an upmarket online butcher that counts the likes of Harrods and Fortnum & Mason among its customers.
Andy Clarke – who was chief executive of Asda from 2010 until 2016 – has headed up a group of investors to buy Farmison & Co, which collapsed into administration earlier this month.
He has teamed up with branding experts Chilli Marketing and its former founder and managing director, Gareth Whittle, for the deal.
Mr Whittle was a board member of Farmison before it went into administration.
The new owners plan to restart trading at the premium butcher in the coming weeks and resume production at its site in Ripon, North Yorkshire.
Mr Clarke, who will become executive chairman of Farmison, said:
As a retailer brought up on a farm in Yorkshire, I know how producers across the region appreciated Farmison’s commitment to the best producers who could provide the highest quality meat to customers.
That’s why I’m very excited about Farmison’s prospects.
09:22 AM
NBCUniversal chief Jeff Shell sacked over ‘inappropriate relationship’
The chief executive of one of the US’s largest media companies has quit unexpectedly after admitting an “inappropriate relationship” with a woman he worked with.
NBCUniversal has ousted Jeff Shell following an external investigation into allegations of inappropriate conduct.
In a note to staff shared by parent company Comcast, Jeff Shell said: “I had an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the company, which I deeply regret.
“I’m truly sorry I let my Comcast and NBCUniversal colleagues down, they are the most talented people in the business and the opportunity to work with them the last 19 years has been a privilege.”
Comcast said the investigation was led by an outside law firm but provided no more details.
Mr Shell has led NBCUniversal since 2020 and oversaw the US media group’s broad range of businesses, including the Universal film and TV studios, the Peacock streaming service, news channels MSNBC and CNBC, and Universal’s theme parks.
Prior to holding the top job, he was chairman of NBCUniversal film and entertainment.
Comcast said Mr Shell was stepping down effective immediately and has not yet named a successor.
His senior team will now report directly to Mike Cavanagh, president of Comcast.
09:10 AM
Sunak untroubled as he fields questions at LinkedIn Live Q&A
That was a nice gentle Q&A session to warm up the Prime Minister for his meet up with businesses later.
On the LinkedIn Live event, he hosted questions from GSK chief executive Emma Walmsley and Entrepreneur First boss Matt Clifford on what the UK needs to accelerate to grow businesses.
He told a restaurant owner from Belfast that he wants to restore power sharing in Northern Ireland to help businesses grow.
Huge Andre, former Army officer who co-founded Forceselect with Andy McNabb to help veterans into work, asked how the Government could provide funding for employers or veterans themselves in the 40-60 age group to get them into work.
Mr Sunak said when he was chancellor he introduced a NI employers holiday if companies take on a veteran as an incentive to hire former forces personnel but asked to speak to him after the session.
He also fielded questions on regulating AI from a student in Sweden – “read our white paper” – and apprenticeships from an assiociate designer at Virgin Media O2.
Mr Sunak said the Government wants to bring apprenticeships into the UCAS system, to highlight more easily to young people to opportunities available to them after school or college.
08:42 AM
PM: Government must be ready to take up opportunities of AI
Former Dragons Den star and investor James Khan has delivered the first question to the Prime Minister at a live Q&A he is hosting on LinkedIn.
He asked how the Government will help firms hire talent, to which Rishi Sunak said ministers must “keep pace with how the economy is changing”.
He added: “We need to make sure there are lots of different routes for people to get the skills they need.”
He asked Mr Khan where he wants the Government to build the “talent pipeline,” to which Mr Khan pointed to a shortage of support on artificial intelligence.
Mr Khan said “more and more businesses are trying to embrace the revolution” in AI but we “don’t have enough people to fulfil those requirements”.
Mr Sunak said the UK has got to be ready to take advantage of opportunities of AI.
08:29 AM
Markets fall as weak oil prices drag down energy stocks
The FTSE 100 fell in early trading as weak demand outlook for crude dragged energy stocks, while a fall in metal prices pressured industrial miners on the commodity-heavy index.
Britain’s blue-chip index has dropped 0.1pc, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 was flat.
Oil giants BP and Shell lost 1.5pc and 1.5pc, respectively, as crude prices fell over 1pc on concerns about rising interest rates and the global economy.
Base metal miners shed 1.2pc after an uneven economic recovery in China weighed on demand for metals in the world’s biggest metals consumer.
Shares of lender HSBC edged 0.5pc lower after shareholder advisory group ISS said HSBC investors should vote against a resolution by its biggest shareholder Ping An.
Meanwhile, asking prices for property being put on sale in Britain over the past month rose less than normal for the time of year, data from property website Rightmove showed.
08:21 AM
UK and Netherlands link could power up to 1.8m homes
A new power line between the UK and the Netherlands will deliver enough electricity to “power more homes than Manchester and Birmingham combined”, the Government has announced.
The Government said LionLink will be the “world’s largest multi-use electricity power line” and claimed it will boost UK energy supplies with “enough to power 1.8 million homes”.
LionLink will connect the two countries to each other and to offshore wind farms in the North Sea to provide “clean, affordable” energy by the time it is due to be “operational by the early 2030s”.
Energy Secretary Grant Shapps hailed Monday’s “historic deal” as a boost to the UK’s energy security.
The cross-border electricity line will be only the second of its kind in the world – the first was built by Germany and Denmark.
08:09 AM
Markets fall to start the week
Stock markets have lost ground at the start of a week packed with economic data and central bank meetings, along with earnings from the tech giants that have kept the S&P 500 afloat so far this year.
The FTSE 100 fell 0.4pc to 7,879.10 after the open while the midcap FTSE 250 dipped 0.3pc to 19,222.62.
07:58 AM
Adani begins first bond buyback after short-seller’s report
Adani Group bonds rose after one of its key companies started the first debt buyback by Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s conglomerate since it was targeted by a short seller in January.
Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone said it plans to buy back as much as $130m (£105m) of its July 2024 bonds and similar amounts in each of the next four quarters, as it tries to show that its liquidity position is comfortable, the firm said in a stock exchange filing.
The buyback would mark another effort by the group to regain investor confidence, including trimming capital spending, after a Hindenburg Research report pounded its bonds and shares.
BI analyst Denise Wong said:
Adani Ports’ plan to halve capital spending and prepay 50bn rupees of debt could alleviate refinancing concerns ahead of major maturities in 2024.”
However, he added those steps “will impede the company’s ability to boost earnings growth via infrastructure expansion and M&A”.
07:38 AM
Credit Suisse ends plans to buy Michael Klein’s boutique investment firm
Credit Suisse and x-Citigroup banker Michael Klein ended a plan to fold the his investment advisory boutique into the bank and resurrect the Credit Suisse First Boston brand under his leadership.
The Swiss bank and M. Klein & Co “have mutually agreed to terminate the acquisition” as a result of the emergency takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS announced last month.
The brief notice in Credit Suisse’s first-quarter results represents the end of a saga for the veteran dealmaker, who had stood to enjoy a personal payday of more than $200m and a shot at running his own investment bank.
Those plans quickly unravelled last month, although Mr Klein could yet walk away with more than a $20m break-up fee.
That is on top of a $10 million fee that the Swiss bank paid his boutique to bring him in while they awaited regulatory approval to make him an executive.
07:31 AM
UBS takeover came as Credit Suisse was hit by £55bn in withdrawals in first quarter
More than £55bn had been withdrawn from Credit Suisse in the first three months this year, the bank revealed today in what is likely its final quarterly results before it is swallowed by rival UBS.
Switzerland’s longtime second largest bank saw 61.2bn Swiss francs withdrawn in the first quarter alone.
The bank appeared to make a 12.8 billion francs profit over the period, up from a significant loss a year earlier, but this was skewed by its AT1 bond holders being wiped out in the emergency takeover deal in March.
Investors had been eagerly awaiting the results as they seek clues to the magnitude of the challenges facing UBS, which was strongarmed last month by Swiss authorities into the mega merger.
Credit Suisse said the “significant net asset outflows” were particularly heavy in the second half of March, as it was engulfed by panic prior to the hastily arranged takeover by its larger domestic competitor.
“These outflows have moderated but have not yet reversed as of April 24, 2023,” the bank said in its earnings statement.
07:23 AM
Sunak to answer business questions on LinkedIn
Rishi Sunak will kick off his morning with a LinkedIn Live Q&A before hosting his first Business Connect event with 200 chief executives.
The event starts at 8.30am.
07:11 AM
Sunak faces calls from bosses for lower taxes
Corporation tax rose from 19pc to 25pc this month for companies with profits of more than £250,000 despite warnings that it would damage economic growth.
Alexa Phillips has more on how businesses will try to persuade Rishi Sunak of the need to lower taxes at a major business event:
Alex Baldock, group chief executive of Currys, welcomed the opportunity to discuss the needs of the private sector at the Business Connect event being held by the Government, which.
He said: “It’s important that business can make its voice heard in government at events like today’s.
“Given the size of the retail sector in the UK, we’re well placed to help power the UK’s growth.
“I’m looking forward to discussing with ministers the skills, infrastructure, regulatory and tax environment we need in order to do so.”
Mr Sunak will answer “any question” from leaders and “underline his commitment to optimise the conditions for businesses to thrive and in turn, drive growth”, according to No 10.
07:09 AM
Sunak launches business charm offensive
Rishi Sunak will attend a summit with hundreds of business leaders today as the Government tries to fill the gap left by the implosion of the Confederation of British Industry.
Personal finance reporter Alexa Phillips has the latest:
The Prime Minister and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will discuss ways of growing the economy at the event on Monday,
More than 200 business leaders will be in attendance at the event dubbed Business Connect, such as the chief executives of Barclays, Diageo and Currys, along with representatives from the tech, life sciences and advanced manufacturing sectors, according to No 10.
Other guests from the private sector include Dame Carolyn McCall, the ITV chief executive; Liv Garfield, CEO of Severn Trent; Greg Jackson, CEO of Octopus Energy; Adrian Mardell, boss of Jaguar Land Rover; Seb James, who runs Boots the Chemist; Claire Barclay, UK CEO of Microsoft; Gerry Murphy, the Burberry chairman; and Jon Holt, who runs KPMG UK, according to Sky News.
The summit follows mounting criticism from businesses about growing taxes and an attempt from Labour to reposition itself as the new party of business.
07:05 AM
Good morning
Rishi Sunak will hold talks with Britain’s biggest businesses and investors as the Government tries to fill the void left behind by the scandal hit Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
The Prime Minister has invited about 200 of the UK’s “highest-profile CEOs and C-suite business leaders” to an event in London for “direct and detailed discussions across key industries”.
Downing Street said the event — called “Business Connect” — is being pitched as a “conference that champions the dynamism of UK businesses to unlock innovation and grow the economy.”
Mr Sunak will address attendees with a “commitment to optimise the conditions for businesses to thrive,” the statement said.
It comes after the CBI suspended large parts of its operations amid an exodus of members following allegations of rape and sexual misconduct against staff.
John Lewis, NatWest, Virgin Media O2 and Aviva were among the companies to quit on Friday.
This wave of departures was triggered by a report in the Guardian that alleged a female CBI employee was raped by two male colleagues in 2018. She was later shown a photograph in the office of sexual activity with one of the individuals, it is claimed.
The CBI has passed details of the allegations to the City of London Police and said it would put “all policy and membership activity” on hold until an extraordinary general meeting in June.
5 things to start your day
1) Inside the race to break Putin’s grip on nuclear fuel – Moscow’s strategic view of atomic energy allows it to undercut competitors globally
2) Brexit blamed for surge in chief execs leaving British companies – Executives departures from UK companies help push global tally to five-year high
3) Women undergoing IVF facing discrimination at work, research suggests – Reported discrimination comes in spite of growing trend of companies funding fertility treatments
4) National Grid quits North Sea carbon capture project – Xi Jinping’s latest round of war games raise fears of a global supply chain upheaval
5) National Grid quits North Sea carbon capture project – Move comes as the company shifts focus to improving its hard-pressed energy networks
What happened overnight
Asian shares were mostly lower at the start of a week packed with economic data and central bank meetings, along with earnings from the tech giants that have kept the S&P 500 afloat so far this year.
Market action was sluggish in the wake of Friday’s surprisingly strong surveys of business activity which reinforced the case for higher interest rates.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.4pc, while Japan’s Nikkei nudged up 0.2pc. Chinese blue chips fell 0.4pc.
Over in Australia, there was some weakness in mining stocks after Chile moved to boost state control over its lithium industry, which has the world’s largest reserves of the battery metal.
