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Business Today
Business live
Aldi and Lidl enjoy record Christmas sales as shoppers seek to stretch festive budgets
Live  
Aldi and Lidl enjoy record Christmas sales as shoppers seek to stretch festive budgets
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news on the first trading day of 2024
Headlines
Supermarkets  
Aldi and Lidl report record Christmas sales amid cost of living crisis
Aldi and Lidl report record Christmas sales amid cost of living crisis
Retail  
UK grocery inflation sticks at 4.3% despite lower food price rises
Oil  
UK refinery owner extends credit facility with arm of firm part-owned by Russian who is under sanctions
Gig economy  
Fitter working for Sharps takes legal action over employment rights
Footsie turns 40  
FTSE 100’s rise, rise and stagnation over four decades
Property  
Number of UK first-time buyers in 2023 was lowest in a decade
Energy bills  
Prices in Great Britain rise by 5% as cap increases
Energy  
Big five oil companies to reward shareholders with record payouts
Media  
Film, TV and video-game producers to get more generous UK tax relief
Mobile networks  
Three’s £2bn dividend payout sparks row over Vodafone merger
Nuclear waste  
Cyber-hackers target reprocessing company RWM
Today's agenda
Aldi and Lidl enjoyed record Christmas sales as shoppers turned to discount chains to stretch household budgets over the festive season amidst the cost of living crisis.

Aldi said that sales topped £1.5bn for the first time in the four weeks to Christmas Eve, with sales up 8% year on year, and has pledged to cut prices to keep up the pressure on rivals.

Meanwhile, Lidl said that its deluxe product range underpinned a 12% year-on-year sales increase in December, as shoppers sought a “touch of luxury at lower prices”.

Both chains said that Friday 22 December, the last weekday before Christmas, proved to be a record trading day with Aldi, the UK’s fourth biggest chain, saying 2.5m customers used its stores for their full festive shop.

Last week, consumer card spending figures from Barclays showed that discount supermarket chains accounted for an all-time high 15.5% grocery spending last year, up a percentage point on 2022, as consumers looked for ways to reduce the cost of their weekly shop.

The agenda
• 9am GMT: Eurozone manufacturing report for December
• 9.30am GMT: UK manufacturing PMI report for December
• 2.45pm GMT: US manufacturing PMI report for December

We’ll be tracking all the main events throughout the day ...
Opinion
China’s many systemic problems dominate its outlook for 2024
China’s many systemic problems dominate its outlook for 2024
Media
Hong Kong  
Jimmy Lai pleads not guilty to all charges at national security trial
Jimmy Lai pleads not guilty to all charges at national security trial
John Pilger  
Campaigning journalist dies, aged 84
Spotlight
How women and younger UK workers are being hit by ‘underemployment’
Zero-hours contracts  
How women and younger UK workers are being hit by ‘underemployment’
With their employers limiting the hours they can work, many people have to take two jobs to make end meet
Popular on business
Do electric cars really produce fewer carbon emissions than petrol or diesel vehicles?
Do electric cars really produce fewer carbon emissions than petrol or diesel vehicles?
Retailers want rest of UK to follow Scotland’s example over law protecting shop staff
Post Office Horizon inquiry: ‘enough evidence for police investigation’
Life is good for baby boomers. But Jeremy Hunt plans to make it even better
Cyber-hackers target UK nuclear waste company RWM
Get in touch
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