Sainsbury’s to cut 1,500 jobs; The Body Shop to shut 75 more shops – as it happened

Time for a recap….

Sainsbury’s has said it will cut around 1,500 roles as part of plans that it hopes will reduce costs by around £1bn per year.

The business said that it would cut roles in its contact centre in Widnes, in Cheshire, at its in-store bakeries and a few at local fulfilment centres, in a cost-cutting drive.

Chief executive Simon Roberts said.

“As we move into the next phase of our strategy, we are making some difficult, but necessary decisions,”

“I know today’s news is unsettling for affected colleagues and we will do everything we can to support them.”

The supermarket will reduce its workforce by around 1,500 jobs, but subject to consultation. It said the money it saves will be reinvested into the business to give customers “great value, quality and service.”

At Widnes a “vast majority” of Sainsbury’s staff will see their employment move to a different company, while its stores will move to “a more efficient way of freshly baking products”.

The blow comes as administrators running The Body Shop announce plans to close 75 stores across the UK in the next six weeks with the loss of 489 jobs.

Here’s the full list.

Hundreds of jobs are also being cut at computer games developer Electronic Arts.

In the property sector, UK mortgage approvals have hit their highest level in 15 months. There were 55,200 new home loans approved by lenders in January, the highest since October 2022.

Property website Zoopla has predicted that sales will rise 10% this year, as falling mortgage rates boost demand.

Elsewhere today…

The G20 group of the world’s most powerful countries is exploring plans for a global minimum tax on the world’s 3,000 billionaires:

US regulators are reportedly investigating internal communications from the OpenAI chief executive, Sam Altman, as part of an inquiry into whether investors into the technology company were misled.

A former Treasury official and key adviser to David Cameron and George Osborne has been appointed as a deputy governor of the Bank of England.

Clare Lombardelli’s arrival will mean the Bank’s interest-rate-setting committee will have a majority of female policymakers for the first time in its history.

Ocado has threatened to sue Marks & Spencer over a multimillion-pound payment linked to their online joint venture.

The owner of British Airways has announced bumper profits for 2023 on the back of sustained demand for leisure flights, with operating profits doubling year on year and exceeding 2019’s pre-Covid haul.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is reportedly considering abolishing the UK’s non-dom tax status, which allows foreign domiciled nationals resident in Britain to earn money from capital abroad without paying UK tax on it for up to 15 years.

And bitcoin is on track for its best month in over three years, after jumping 50% in February, towards its alltime high of around $69,000.

Newsflash: Sainsbury’s has announced plans to cut around 1,500 jobs as part of efforts to reduce costs by £1 billion.

The move comes as the UK’s second-largest supermarket chain seeks cost savings to invest back into the business.

The jobs will go at its store support centre, its contact centre operations in Widnes, Cheshire, in its in-store bakeries and at some local fulfilment centres.

Sainsbury’s says that, where possible, it will find alternative roles for impacted staff, and that the job cuts are subject to consultation.

It employs around 152,000 staff at its 600 supermarkets and over 800 convenience stores.

The changes form part of the group’s new “Next Level Sainsbury’s” strategy, which CEO Simon Roberts detailed earlier this month, which set a new cost savings target of £1bn over three years.

That strategy involves using more automated tills and warehouse robots as well as AI forecasting tools to ensure Sainsbury’s has the right stock in stores

Roberts had not ruled out job losses as a result of the changes, when he presented it three weeks ago:

Canada has avoided falling into recession at the end of last year.

Canadian GDP rose by 0.2% in the October-December quarter, following a 0.1% contraction in the third quarter, new data shows.

That means Canada has avoided contracting for two quarters in a row, the technical definition of a recession which claimed the UK and Japan.

But… adjusted for population, the picture is less rosy, with GDP-per-head in Canada dropping again:

While US inflation is slowing, more Americans are losing their jobs as higher interest rates hit the economy.

The number of ‘initial claims’ for unemployment support rose by 13,000 last week, to 215,000, from 202,000 the previous seven days.

Economists had expected a smaller rise, to 209,000.

Initial claims are a proxy for the number of people being laid off, and today’s total is still low by historic standards.

Over in the US, the central bank’s favoured inflation measure has dipped slightly.

The PCE price index, which measures the prices consumers pay for goods and services, rose by 2.4% in the year to January, down from 2.6% in December.

The core PCE index, excluding food and energy costs, shows prices rose by 2.8% in the year to January, down from 2.9% a month earlier.

This may reassure the Federal Reserve that inflationary pressures are easing, and that inflation will drop back to their 2% target.