Bitesize Blighty: August 31, 2018
Coca-Cola muscles in on the global beverage market with its acquisition of the Costa Coffee Chain from Whitbread for £3.9bn, included assumed debt. Financial Times reports that this sale saw Whitbread’s shares go up 18 per cent following the announcement of the deal on Friday. Costa is the world’s second largest coffee chain and the UK’s largest coffee chain with nearly 4,000 locations across a variety of international markets.
The Pound stays above the $1.30 mark following Michel Barnie saying, in relation to the EU, that “we are prepared to offer Britain a partnership such as there never has been with any other third country”. This comment by the EU’s Chief Negotiator for Brexit comes on the heels of reports that Emmanuel Macron (France’s President) will push for a deal with Britain, indicating a possibility of a softening EU approach to Brexit negotiations.
Over 300,000 people in the UK are expected to take part in #ScrollFreeSeptember. The campaign launched by Royal Society for Public Health and backed by the NHS is aimed at encouraging people to give up or cut back their use of social media apps such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram for the entire month of September. 