Your commercial news round-up: Waitrose and Asda, VTB Bank, cryptocurrency heists, Uber Eats and BP, Dairy Milk

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• British supermarket Waitrose has raised trademark concerns following Asda’s announcement that it will launch a ‘Just Essentials’ range, including 300 low-cost products, in all stores from May. Waitrose claims the ‘Just Essentials’ branding is too similar to its own ‘Essential Waitrose’ range, which has been in its supermarkets since 2009. A spokesperson for Waitrose explained that since 2009 the supermarket has “built up a strong reputation for value, quality and higher welfare standards” before adding that they also “protected the name as a trademark”. Meanwhile, Asda claims that “The word ‘essentials’ is a generic and commonly used term by retailers to describe their value product ranges”. Waitrose is currently waiting for Asda to respond to its letter.  

• The London branch of Russia’s VTB Bank, Russia’s second-largest lender, is on the verge of insolvency proceedings following sanctions that have restricted its operations. According to Sky News sources, British banking regulators have appointed advisers to help with the bank’s declining situation in the City. The sources added that insolvency practitioners have been drafted in to help with the process, following fears that the London arm could fall into special administration or liquidation in the next few days. While its collapse would be the biggest to hit the City as a result of Russia’s war in Ukraine, its crash wouldn’t have a significant impact on the financial system in the UK, says Sky News.

• Forget Ocean’s Eleven, there’s a new Danny Ocean in town. In what has been reported as one of the largest cryptocurrency heists on record, blockchain project Ronin revealed that unidentified hackers successfully stole cryptocurrency now worth $615 million from its systems. The hackers took around 173,600 ether tokens and 25.5 million USD coin tokens, which were worth $540 million on 23 March – the day of the heist. Analysis from Elliptic has revealed it to be the second-largest crypto theft on record. Ronin is working with “various government agencies to ensure the criminals get brought to justice”.

• Uber Eats and BP have signed a deal that will see the food delivery company working with 120 BP outlets across the UK by the end of June to deliver items from its stores, including fresh produce, ready meals, wine and flowers. By the end of the year, it’s hoped that 3,000 outlets across Australia, New Zealand, Poland, South Africa, the US and UK will be on board as part of the new global agreement. The pandemic “accelerated customer demand for delivered convenience” and this partnership is designed to support BP in scaling up quickly on the Uber platform, according to BP’s Emma Delaney, executive vice president customers and products. Pierre Dimitri Gore-Coty, Uber’s senior vice president, said that BP are “critical partners” given its reach with “20,500 locations around the world”.

• Meanwhile, the size of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk sharing bars has been reduced by 10% from 200g to 180g, with the price set to remain the same. Mondelez, Cadbury’s parent company, has put the move down to a spike in production costs, explaining that it’s “facing the same challenges that so many other food companies have already reported” as the cost of living crisis continues. It’s not the first time the company has shrunk the size of its chocolate bars – Cadbury’s was accused of “shrinkflation” in 2020 after reducing the size of bars sold in its multipacks, including Crunchies, Twirls and Wispas.

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