POUND NOTES
■ The pandemic pet ownership boom and customers drinking more coffee at home helped drive Nestle to a jump in sales over the past year.
The world’s largest food company revealed sales pushed 3.6% higher in 2020 as it was particularly boosted by a robust performance from its Purina pet care arm with strong growth from its Purina Pro Plan and Felix brands.
Coffee was also in strong demand from lockdown shoppers. Growth in these categories helped to offset slumps for products which are typically bought by shoppers “on the go”.
Sales of chocolate and other confectionery slipped lower as shoppers made fewer impulse buys while gifting was also impacted by restrictions.
■ Moneysupermarket suffered from the coronavirus pandemic last year as closed borders led to a collapse in travel insurance sales. Revenue dropped 11% to £344.9 million in 2020, the company revealed, with pre-tax profit falling by more than 24%. Global borders have been closed to slow the spread of Covid-19, and even where they remained open travel has been slashed.
The travel insurance segment normally accounts for a significant proportion of Moneysupermarket’s customers, and without it being in full swing the number of customers it served dropped from 13.1 m to 11.5 million in 2020. Revenue would only have dropped 4% if excluding the travel segment.
■ Streaming services have overtaken satellite and cable TV in popularity, according to cloud technology group Amdocs.
It said 83% of Britons have a subscription to a streaming service, such as Netflix, compared to 69% for satellite and TV packages. Amdocs said coronavirus triggered a surge in consumption, with 54% of people watching more TV and movies on streaming services than before the pandemic hit.