Money blog: Supermarket puts buying limit on new Lindt version of viral chocolate (2025)

You can be sure of Shell, as it was put in the old advertising slogan, the veracity of which was borne out today.

Ahead of its capital markets day, a long presentation to investors in New York during which it outlined its strategy for the next five years, the oil major unveiled new financial targets that had investors positively cooing.

Shell plans to raise distributions to shareholders from 30-40% of "cash flow from operations" to between 40-50%, and will continue to prioritise share buybacks, "while maintaining a 4% per annum progressive dividend policy".

These are huge commitments and are important not just for Shell but for just about everyone in the UK. The old rule of thumb used to be that Shell accounted for about £1 in every £6 received in dividends by UK pension funds.

While that may not necessarily be the case any more, given the disinvestment from the UK by such funds over the last decade, Shell remains a hugely important contributor to the retirement savings of Britons and, indeed, savers around the world.

As interesting is how Shell intends to fund all this largesse and, in a few words, this can be summed up as doing more with less.

The company has jacked up its cost-saving target - it was previously looking to reduce costs by between $2-3bn by the end of this year, and this has now been raised to a cumulative $5-7bn by the end of 2028.

Shell is also trimming its capital expenditure (capex). The company, which last year invested $21bn and which at its last capital markets day in June 2023 set out an annual capex target of $22-25bn, said on Tuesday this would fall to $20bn-$22bn between this year and 2028.

All of this is big, dial-shifting stuff. Analysts had not expected Shell's strategy to change significantly from its last capital markets day and this helps explain why the shares rose by almost 2% this morning to hit their highest level since August last year.

Yesterday, we brought you the extremely troubling news that the average cost of a pint in the UK was about to rise to £5.

It was a story that captured the attention of many of readers and some decided to share their thoughts in the comments section.

Here's what they had to say...

When are breweries going to get into the heads that they are the reason pubs are closing all over the country with their unjustified price rises? £5 a pint is absolutely obscene.

Barry

Boycott buying a pint, then business will have to reconsider. I will not be going to the pub anymore. Government clearly controlling the populous by raising prices of everything so that people's income becomes a deficit to their bills. If people are static, then govt has control.

Paul R

When I was 18, Friday night and the bars would be 4 deep to get served. Now it is far too dear to buy a pint. Two weeks ago I went to the excellent Thornbridge brewery. A pint of Jaipur from the bar was £5. A bottle of Jaipur 500ml £2.50 to take home. Why the massive difference?

Tashyboy

Price of a pint £5 one of the pubs in my village on the Wirral is now charging £6.90 for a pint - £2 more than the other pubs. Outrageous behaviour from a chain pub but people still pay it. Even the men's club in the village has had to put the price up to £4.60

Maxwell silverhammer

Bought four pints of lager from the local supermarket for £7. Paying over £5 a pint will just make me avoid pubs more sadly.

Irregular Torquay drinker

Some were shocked - at how cheap £5 a pint sounded...

Really? The price of a pint is already over £7.50 in London!

Mark k

If the cost of a pint is due to go up by 21p to over £5, then why have many pubs already been charging in excess of £5? My local charges £5.20 and has done for months!

Robin Cole

£5 a pint? More like £6 a pint around here!

Sam

Everything Rachel Reeves has been doing has been about achieving one thing: kickstarting growth in the UK.

But reports this morning suggest that in her Spring Statement tomorrow, the chancellor could announce that the growth forecast for this year has halved.

In a lecture made at Leicester University yesterday, the Bank of England governor said he thought that artificial intelligence could hold the key to solving Britain's growth woes.

"AI appears to me to have that potential, and so it could over time lift growth rates and per capita national income," Andrew Bailey said.

"We must facilitate the growth of AI as the most likely general purpose technology which can move the needle on growth in the economy."

He also suggested that investing in the human skills required to accelerate AI was also needed.

We've had more evidence today that Tesla is struggling, as the latest data showed its market share had halved in Europe (see 6.33 post), but is it just as simple as consumers turning on Elon Musk?

An investor recently told Sky News that Musk should resign to protect the company...

Our business presenter Ian King has been looking into all the possible reasons Tesla's share price continues to plummet.

He found:

• Musk's provocative politics, including wielding a chainsaw and making a gesture on stage that some interpreted as a Nazi salute, have put buyers off - but not to the extent it may appear;
• Musk may instead be proving too distracted by commitments to the government agency he runs - known as DOGE - and his other companies like SpaceX and X, spooking investor confidence;
• Tesla share prices were arguably overpriced to begin with;
• Business is facing increased competition, particularly from China.

You can read his deep dive into the issues facing the electric car company here...

Millwall has become the first British football club to launch its own mobile network.

Millwall Mobile will offer customers discounts and exclusive reward offers, with SIM plans starting at £10 a month.

For £20 a month, fans can get unlimited 5G data, unlimited texts and calls and 20GB of EU roaming.

The network will be powered by Three, which is one of the fastest 5G networks in the country.

Millwall's chief commercial officer, Luke Wilson, said: "We're delighted to be the first club in the country to bring this model to the UK and to our fans.

He said it will offer customers "great value and flexible plans that reward their loyalty via the club benefits on offer – but also access to the best network in London."

You can read all the terms and conditions here.

Waitrose has placed a two bar per customer limit on Lindt's new chocolate.

The supermarket has introduced the rule for the extremely popular Dubai style chocolate in an attempt to regulate stock levels.

Steve Dresser, chief executive of consultancy firm Grocery Insight, snapped a photo of a sign at one store that read: "No more than two bars per person please… because we want everyone to have the chance to enjoy our delicious chocolate."

A Waitrose spokesperson told Money: "Due to the incredible popularity of this product, we want to make sure that as many customers as possible have the opportunity to try it."

Lindt launched the bar in December after Dubai chocolate (chocolate with pistachio and knafeh inside) went viral on TikTok.

By Mark Kleinman, city editor

The Coca-Cola Company is in talks to return to the top tier of the Premier League's commercial partners after a three-year hiatus.

Sky News understands that the US-based soft drinks giant is in advanced talks to become an official partner of English football's top flight, following a previous deal which expired in 2022.

Sources said a multimillion pound agreement could be ratified at a Premier League shareholder meeting on Thursday.

Millions of people's DNA records are up for sale after a major home-testing company declared bankruptcy.

23andMe saw its chief executive step down and more than 15 million people's data put up for sale after struggling with weak demand for its ancestry testing kits and a 2023 data breach that damaged its reputation.

Announcing the move, the company said that data privacy would be an "important consideration" but that the goal was to "maximise the value of its assets".

So what does that mean for your data?

Cybersecurity expert Ross Brewer from security firm Graylog told Money the company's collapse could see customer data ending up on the dark web, placing them at risk of serious financial harm.

"Access to users' family tree information can allow human scammers and bots at scam farms and call centres to send more personalised messages, or more convincing fraudulent emails designed to persuade people to reveal sensitive information or install malware on their devices," he explained.

"For example, through accessing personal names and genetic details, scammers could more easily convince a target that they are a family member, or know them or their family."

Individuals' password information may also be compromised, leading to an increased risk of accounts being taken over, and further breaches taking place, he said.

"If cybercriminals have managed to compromise your passwords at 23andMe, they can potentially also access other accounts with the same password, such as utilities and banking, to cause more damage. They may even be able to access corporate accounts with the same password, causing a business risk."

This DNA information is also highly attractive to insurance companies, who could step in and buy these assets to collect family data and improve risk profiling to then change an individual's premium and cover accordingly.

What can you do to protect yourself?

"UK customers should employ good password hygiene," Brewer said, which means changing any that are the same as your 23andMe account immediately.

He also suggested using two factor authentication where possible.

"Be cautious and suspicious of activity that may result from a threat actor trying to impersonate you by stealing your identity, especially accounts related to health insurance, banking or other sensitive areas," he added.

Brewer said that it was not just private individuals but companies that needed to "fortify their defences" to thwart potential attacks within their systems.

"This requires that organisations focus on basic cybersecurity hygiene best practices and ensure they are monitoring their normal user activity so they can look for abnormalities as impersonators leverage their stolen data."

Ticketmaster may have misled Oasis fans, the Competition and Markets Authority has said.

The online platform has been urged to change the way it labels it tickets and provide better pricing information to fans as a result.

The CMA has been investigating the site following widespread complaints about the sale of Oasis concert tickets last year.

While the investigation is still ongoing, the CMA said it is "concerned" Ticketmaster may have breached consumer protection law.

It said the company labelled certain seated tickets as platinum and sold them for near 2.5 times the price of equivalent standard tickets, without explaining why they were more expensive

"This risked giving consumers the misleading impression that platinum tickets were better," it said.

It also found Ticketmaster did not inform fans that there were two categories of standing tickets at different prices, and there was no evidence that it used dynamic pricing.

"Many fans were under the impression that Ticketmaster used an algorithmic pricing model during the Oasis sale, with ticket prices adjusted in real time according to changing conditions like high demand," it said.

"The CMA has not found evidence that this was the case. Instead, Ticketmaster released a number of standing tickets at a lower price and, once they had sold out, then released the remaining standing tickets at a much higher price."

Budget airline Ryanair is launching an annual subscription to offer members discounted fares and other benefits.

The "Prime" service will cost £79 a year and will give customers access to reserved seating, travel insurance and monthly seat sales.

They will also be able to book an unlimited number of flights at cheaper rates.

However, the subscription is limited to 250,000 people on a first-come, first-served basis.

Ryanair says it will save members who fly 12 times a year up to £420, while those who only fly three times will save £105.

Passengers who sign up must be at least 18 years old, and is only being offered to those living in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands, UK, Poland, Portugal and Spain.

It comes after Wizz Air last year launched a similar service that locked in the price of one flight per month for a set fee, and included bags and priority boarding.