General
Covid-19, trade conflicts and Brexit. This unholy trinity has turned global shipping container trade upside down. That chaos is on its way to our store shelves, resulting in shortages and increased prices.
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Food
Half-empty shelves and scarcity of fish: barely two weeks after Brexit came into force, the chaos has arrived. A (non-exhaustive) overview.
Sending orders online to the UK is a lot more expensive and complex after the Brexit. Some European online retailers are therefore discontinuing their deliveries to the country.
British supermarket chain Sainsbury's has warned against empty shelves in stores if transport lines to mainland Europe are not quickly reopened.
As a hard Brexit becomes more likely, British supermarkets are accumulating additional stock. After all, there is a threat of serious shortages, partly due to hoarding shoppers.
Unilever's Dutch shareholders agree to move the FMCG producer to London. Despite the threat of a departure penalty of 11 billion euros, the shareholders voted almost unanimously in favour.
British retailers angrily responds to Boris Johnson's promise that there would be no shortage of food after a no deal brexit. They point out that they can not indefinitely stockpile supplies every time a deadline day gets near.
The extension of the Brexit deadline is - finally - some good news for European retailers, branch organisation EuroCommerce says. However, it also has a major drawback.
Belgian Lotus Bakeries keeps on growing: later this year, the company will be opening a factory in the United States. It is a historical step for the company: for the first time, Lotus will be making speculoos abroad.
Fashion
Luxury group LVMH, known as the parent company of Louis Vuitton, Moët & Chandon and others, has had a record year: profits went up by as much as 21% and exceeded the record height of 10 billion euros. How? By embracing exclusivity.
A hard Brexit might lead to a serious disruption of e-commerce across the borders: the industry therefore insists that Europe and the UK reach a deal quickly.
Trade wars and discrimination within the single market create growing pressures on retailers in Europe. EuroCommerce Director-General Christian Verschueren is concerned, but looks forward confidently to the future.
The Brexit may have serious consequences for Aurum, which owns the UK’s largest watch retailers: its American majority shareholder may put it up for sale.
Cosmetics
British cosmetics group Lush is moving its European production to Germany because of the result of the British EU membership referendum.
AB InBev has decided to increase its SABMiller bid by a pound to 45 pounds per share, after SABMiller's major shareholders asked for an increased bid: they felt the Brexit had devaluated the original bid.
Primark's owner Associated British Foods expects its turnover will be artificially boosted thanks to the pounding the British pound received after the Brexit referendum.
