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Monday – October 25
1. Ocado Group Plc (LON: OCDO)
Ocado, an online supermarket giant, has built washing-machine sized bots. These bots have garnered the interest of many international retailers who are struggling to cope with the worker shortages and rising wage demands post-pandemic. The company also inked technology contracts with supermarket companies across 8 nations including, France, US and Japan.
Ocado’s new technology aims to automate the entire process and improve productivity across its customer fulfilment centres (CFCs). At its largest facility - a $310 million building in Southeast London, over 2,000 robots have been deployed that have replaced the human workforce.
Tuesday – October 26
- Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc (LON: RKT)
Reckitt Benckiser, a consumer goods group and owner of household brands such as Nurofen, Strepsils Lysol, and Dettol, announced strong performance driven by rising demand for flu and cold medicines. The company’s sales of over the counter (OTC) medicines increased by over 20% in Q3 2021, fuelled by high sales of Mucinex cough and cold medicines. The company expects like-for-like sales growth in the range of 1% to 3% in FY 2021, up from the previous guidance of 0% to 2%. Nevertheless, the sales were still 11.8% behind 2020 levels during the COVID-19 pandemic, where sales surged due to the high demand for hygiene products.
Wednesday – October 27
- JD Wetherspoon Plc (LON: JDW)
JD Wetherspoon slashed the price of a pint to 99p, despite inflationary pressures across the pub industry in the UK. The company announced cutting down prices for a range of its drink offerings starting next month in a strategy to attract more customers post the pandemic lockdowns. The company announced that its 671 pubs across England would be selling three alcoholic drinks for 99p each - a bottle of Beck’s, a pint of Ruddles Best, and 25ml of Bell’s whisky served with a mixer. The company will also serve all hot drinks at 99p, with refills free of cost as a part of its price revisions.
Thursday – October 28
- Ryanair Holdings Plc (LON: RYA)
Ryanair announced the commencement of refunds to customers for flights cancellations within five working days, post tremendous criticism against its reimbursements policy during the pandemic. The carrier also reported improvements in treating flyers whose flights are cancelled or rescheduled. In the initial days of the pandemic, Ryanair had refused to refund customers who were unable to travel even if the flight did not take off. This triggered a Competition and Markets Authority investigation that was later dropped. The airline has now come up with a policy to refund passengers within seven days, which is in line with the new EU rules for passengers whose flight gets cancelled by the airline.
Friday – October 29
5. Tesco Plc (LON:TSCO)
Tesco announced plans to start doorstep delivery in less than 10 minutes post the launch of its partnership with the start-up Gorillas. The supermarket chain commenced the pilot programme on Thursday from its Thornton Heath store in South London. The company has been focusing on the expansion of its rapid grocery delivery through its Whoosh service that promises delivery within 60 minutes. Under the partnership, Gorillas will showcase various Tesco products through its app and establish fulfilment centres in five large stores. Gorillas will use the warehouse space and stock around 2,000 products.
