#cost-pressures

#cost-pressures

The milkshake tax is another blow to businesses already drowning in complex taxes and soaring fixed costs. If this isn't balanced with meaningful business rates reform for hospitality, leisure, and retail, it's a clear net negative for growth. While the levy targets only packaged drinks, not fresh café-made shakes, it still shakes up a struggling sector, and piles on administrative burden and cost at a time when margins are already diluted and consumer demand dwindles.

CAVA reported Q3 2025 earnings after the close on Tuesday, delivering results that largely matched expectations but fell short on profitability. The stock closed at $49.12, down sharply from its 52-week high of $172.43. Revenue came in at $292.24M versus the $291.95M estimate, while EPS missed at $0.12 against a $0.13 consensus. The miss marked a departure from CAVA's recent track record of beating estimates in five of the last six quarters.

While revenues have finally recovered to stand 17% higher than that period, the group has 85 fewer pubs. This results in sales per pub which have increased by 29%, but in terms of profit that progress has been largely obliterated by growth of 57.8% and 34.5% in energy and wage costs respectively. More broadly, the continuing closure of many pubs across the country opens opportunities for Wetherspoon, although the group is understandably cautious of opening any new pubs which may not meet its financial hurdles.

Next could easily have been a real casualty of the digital age but, again, has shown its ability to not only stay relevant but prosper, thanks to its ability to adapt and benefit strategically from online retail. While the fast fashion brands have blazed and faded, Next has nurtured its brand portfolio, online platform and customer base steadily in a real tortoise and hare story.

New data by the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) has revealed that convenience stores have slashed 2,000 jobs over the past 12 months.

Business confidence plunged this month across the UK's services sector as mounting cost pressures and weak demand hit profits and undermined the outlook for the rest of the year. The CBI's latest service sector poll found that a majority of companies were gloomy about their prospects and discounted the acceleration in activity that usually follows the return to work after the summer break.

Walmart has a plan to stay profitable as President Donald Trump's tariffs push up costs. It's called advertising. In the second quarter, Walmart's ad revenue jumped 46% year over year, a number padded by the addition of Vizio, the smart TV maker it picked up last year. Strip that out, and the U.S. business still looks strong: Walmart Connect, its retail media network, grew 31%.

Confidence among UK small business owners remains strong in 2025 despite rising costs and economic uncertainty. Nearly half reported stronger business performance this year compared to the last.

Greggs reported a 6.9% rise in total sales to £1.3 billion in the first half of the year, with like-for-like sales increasing by 2.6%. However, sales momentum sharply declined in June due to record-breaking heat, leading to reduced foot traffic and weaker demand for core products.