Londis Retailer Seamus Griffin showed just how grateful we all are the heroes working so hard to care for the nation by personally donating more than 500 Easter Eggs and lunch to the staff in St James’s Hospital at the weekend. The Griffin Group and Londis has had a presence in St James’s Hospital since 2011 and has been long-term supporters of the St James’s Hospital Foundation. Last Christmas, for example, Seamus and Londis raised more than €70,000 for the Foundation by raffling a car.
M&S has announced that it is making weekly free food donations for the HSE workers at The Mater Hospital and St James Hospital and Cork University Hospital. The British retailer said that it is delivering much needed toiletries including toothbrushes and shower gels to the City West self-isolation facility to help provide comfort for patients. "With personal challenges being faced by everyone during these unprecedented times, and our own frontline colleagues working so hard, it is so important that we all pull together," said Ken Scully, country manager, M&S Ireland.
US consumer prices fell by the most in more than five years in March and further decreases are likely as the novel coronavirus outbreak suppresses demand for some goods and services, offsetting price increases related to shortages resulting from disruptions to the supply chain. The Labor Department said that the consumer price index dropped 0.4% last month amid a tumble in the costs of gasoline, hotel accommodation, apparel and airline tickets. That was the biggest drop since January 2015 and followed a 0.1% gain in February. In the 12 months through March, the CPI rose 1.5% after increasing 2.3% in February. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the CPI dropping 0.3% in March and climbing 1.6% year-on-year.
British baker Greggs, whose shops have been shuttered by the coronavirus emergency, has secured credit from a government support scheme to meet its liquidity needs for a prolonged closure period, the company has said. The company said it now had sufficient available credit to cover a scenario where its shops were unable to trade for the rest of the year. Greggs has so far issued €171.02 million (£150 million) of commercial paper with a duration of 11 months under the Bank of England's Covid Corporate Financing Facility, reports Reuters.
Starbucks Corp recently forecasted a 47% drop in second-quarter earnings, scrapped its full-year forecast and warned that the financial hit from the coronavirus pandemic would extend into the final quarter of the fiscal year 2020, reports Reuters. The company also said it would temporarily suspend its share buyback program and take steps to cut costs, but would maintain its quarterly dividend. Starbucks said it now expects to report second-quarter earnings of about 28 cents per share, reflecting the impact of lost sales for the period as well as higher costs. It had reported 53 cents per share in the year-earlier period.
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