Breakfast Briefing: Retail news on Amazon, Sports Direct, B&M and more

Amazon eyes selling own-brand food

Etailer Amazon is looking to widen it Elements business, with plans to launch range of own-brand food products, the Wall Street Journal reported. The online retailer is to start selling everyday food and drink products such as milk and cereal under the brand.

The company filed for trademark protections for more than two dozen items under its Elements brand earlier this month, including coffee, soup, pasta, water, vitamins, dog food, razors and cleaning products. It has already approached manufacturers with a view to reaching a deal that will see third-parties produce the food but Amazon sell it in its own packaging. One of those companies is TreeHouse Foods, the newspaper claimed.

Sports Direct’s pre-tax profits ahead of expectations

Sports Direct has said that its performance has been running ahead of expectations, with shares leaping almost 5%. According to the Guardian, underlying profit before tax and earnings per share had exceeded forecasts.

B&M snaps up 12 B&Q stores

Value retailer B&M Bargains is understood to have bought 12 of the 14 sites that have so far been sold by the DIY chain B&Q, The Independent reported.

The news came as the cut-price variety chain revealed its maiden full-year results since listing on the stock market. Sources at B&M added that many of the new stores would be purpose-built by developers for the company.

British consumer morale dips in May

GfK survey found that the UK consumer confidence index slumped unexpectedly in May to +1 from +4 in April. This came as optimism about the about the economic situation in the next 12 months fell to its lowest level since January, Reuters reported.