Breakfast Briefing: Retail news on Tesco, Mulberry and retail sales

Tesco pulls out Schweppes drink after clash with Coca-Cola

Tesco is understood to have removed 25 lines of Schweppes soft drink from its supermarket shelves after clashing with Coca-Cola Enterprises over the price to charge consumers for its drinks. The grocer is considering renegotiation deals with suppliers to cut the price it pays for products.

A spokesperson for Tesco told the Telegraph: “Due to a supply issue, we have had to temporarily adjust some of our soft drinks ranges. We continue to work in close collaboration with our suppliers, to provide our customers with the best products, the greatest value and fantastic availability.”

It is believed that some Schweppes products could return to the supermarket stores later this week, but it is not clear if the row has been resolved.

Mulberry likely to announce new boss soon

Luxury handbag maker Mulberry is inching closer to naming a new chief executive and intends to have one deployed by July when its new creative director joins, a source close to the company told Reuters.

Former chief executive Bruno Guillon left the brand almost a year ago. Since then, the company has been led by chairman Godfrey Davis. The candidate would link up with Mulberry’s new creative director Johnny Coca, who will join from France’s Celine in July.

Retail spending up in February

British retail sales rose 1.7% in February on the year, thanks to the fall in inflation that gave consumers a boost.

According to British Retail Consortium, like-for-like retail spending increased 0.2% year-on-year.