Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news
- AO World warns of product shortages, rising price and shipping costs
- Electricals retailer flags poor availability of certain products
- Bailout process for collapsed Bulb Energy will rely on public funds
- Key questions answered for customers after Bulb Energy’s collapse
- Jerome Powell nominated for second term as chair of US Federal Reserve
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the world economy, the financial markets, the eurozone and business.
Britain’s supply chain crisis continues to hit UK retailers as the crucial Christmas shopping period approaches.
At the start of our financial year in April, we planned for continued revenue growth and built up our cost base accordingly. However, since then, growth in the UK has been impacted by the nationwide shortage of delivery drivers and the ongoing disruption in the global supply chain, and the German online market has seen significantly increased competition.
As we now look to the second half, we continue to see meaningful supply chain challenges with poor availability in certain categories, particularly in our newer products where we have less scale, experience and leverage. In addition, shipping costs, material input prices and consumer price inflation remain challenging uncertainties.