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Ocado relocates
“Leaving the EU has had a significant effect on trade,” Murphy said, claiming that the UK was experiencing “by far” the weakest recovery from the pandemic compared with other major economies.
A group of business leaders has now called for the reintroduction of taxfree shopping for overseas tourists.
In a letter to the UK’s Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, retail, hospitality and tourism chiefs maintained that reinstating the VAT concession would benefit both businesses and the taxpayer.
Taxfree shopping would bring a multibillionpound boost to the economy, they argued.
“The cost of 20 per cent VAT refunds would be outweighed by the enormous benefits of encouraging more visitors to Britain,” they said.
IN a move that will affect approximately 2,300 employees, Ocado plans to close its oldest distribution centre in Hatfield (Hertfordshire) later this year.
This centre accounts for a fifth of the online grocer’s weekly customer orders each week, but sources explained that Ocado now intends to shift towards robotic warehouses, transferring to a new state of the art warehouse in Luton.
Logo no-go
LIDL won its legal standoff against Tesco.
A High Court judge found in favour of the Germanowned chain which accused Tesco of “riding on its coat tails” by promoting its Clubcard deals with a similar blue and yellow logo.
Mrs Justice Joanna Smith made the ruling late last month after an earlier hearing between the two supermarket giants.
Euro
EUR/GBP: Unchanged at £0.88
EUR/USD: Up from $1.07 to $1.09
Easing concerns over Europe’s banking sector initially helped the euro to firm at end of March, before these gains were swiftly eased by a weaker-than-expected Eurozone inflation print.
Hawkish comments from a European Central Bank (ECB) policymaker, put a spring back in the single currency’s step at the start of April, before rally sputtered out in the face of fresh tensions between Russia and Europe as Finland formally joined NATO.
The euro continued to waver into mid-April as a disappointing Eurozone retail sales reading was offset and the single currency’s negative correlation with the US dollar infused volatility into EUR exchange rates.
A stronger-than-expected Eurozone services PMI then lent support to the euro toward the end of April.
While the ECB’s next interest rate
Business Extra
Scot-free
P&O Ferries believe that the possibility of a fine arising from the 2022 mass sacking of 786 employees was “remote.”
The Dubai owned ferry operator’s annual report maintained that sacking its entire UKbased crew without the prior consultation required by UK law was a “solution to gaining essential operational flexibility.
Good result
BARCELONABASED construction company FCC, controlled by Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim, earned €97 million in the first three months of this year, 14 per cent more than 2021’s first quarter. Revenue increased by 21.2 per cent to €2.03 billion thanks to increased activity and doubledigit growth in most business areas.
