By Edward Devlin2021-04-19T07:57:00+01:00
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Petrol forecourt giant EG Group has swooped for restaurant chain Leon as it seeks to grow its non-fuel offering and expand the foodservice operation into healthy fast food.
The Issa brothers, who own the Blackburn-based group, as well as Asda following a £6.8bn deal last year, said Leon was a “fantastic” brand that they had long admired.
Following the acquisition for a reported £100m, EG plans to invest in the chain and broaden its current foodservice offering, which includes the likes of KFC, Subway, Greggs and Starbucks stores run from its petrol stations.
By Alec Mattinson2021-04-16T07:55:00+01:00
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Ocado has announced a partnership, including a £10m investment, with Oxford based autonomous vehicle software company Oxbotica to develop a range of vehicles.
The two will collaborate on hardware and software interfaces for autonomous vehicles, enhancing and integrating Oxbotica’s autonomy software platform into a variety of vehicles.
Ocado said the usage will range from vehicles that operate inside of Ocado’s Customer Fulfilment Centre buildings and the yard areas that surround them, all the way to last-mile deliveries and kerb-to-kitchen robots.
The multi-year collaboration has the ultimate ambition of enabling Ocado’s partners that use the Ocado Smart Platform to reduce the costs of last-mile delivery and other logistics operations.
By Alec Mattinson2021-04-15T08:08:00+01:00
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Newly listed Deliveroo has posted a 130% jump in first quarter turnover, but the delivery giant pointed to dramatic slowdown for the rest of the year as restaurants and pubs reopen.
Growth accelerated for the fourth consecutive quarter, with group orders up 114% year-on-year to 71m. The fourth quarter of 2020 saw order growth of 77% and Deliveroo’s growth in the corresponding first quarter of 2020 was 27%.
UK orders were up 121%, while international orders grew by 108%, both primarily driven by new customers.
Gross transaction values (GTV) were up 130% year-on-year to £1.65bn
UK growth came from all regions and the company has strengthened its leadership position in London, with GTV in London growing by over 120% year-on-year.
Retail sales continued to recover in March, though this recovery was centred on specific ‘home centric’ categories as most sectors remain in significant decline
By Alec Mattinson2021-04-08T08:02:00+01:00
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Norwegian e-grocery business Oda has raised €223M to fund territorial expansion in a funding round led by SoftBank and tech investor Prosus.
Oda, previously known as Kolonial.no since launching in 2013 before a rebrand today, currently has a share of online grocery orders in Norway of over 70% and plans to use the funding to commence its international expansion.
It has started construction of a state-of-the-art fulfilment centre in Finland and is due to launch in Helsinki later this year. Oda also plans to launch its offering in Germany in 2022 and is in discussions with suppliers.