British baker and fast food chain Greggs is keeping its foot on the pedal in an expansion drive, despite a slowdown in sales growth that dragged down first-half profit by 14%, its boss said on Tuesday.
Greggs, known for sausage rolls, steak bakes, vegan alternatives and sweet treats, has more stores than McDonald’s in Britain and opened a net 31 new stores over its first half to June 28, taking the total to 2,649.
It said it was on track to open 140 to 150 new shops in 2025, saw an opportunity for “significantly more” than 3,000 shops over the longer term and ultimately saw scope for more than 4,500.
However, like-for-like sales growth slowed to 2.6% in the first half versus 5.5% in 2024, which Greggs partly blamed on June’s heatwave, prompting some investors to reportedly call for expansion to be slowed.
“I completely do not believe we’ve reached peak Greggs,” CEO Roisin Currie told Reuters in an interview.
“There are still significant parts of the UK where you cannot access a Greggs,” she said, adding that it was underrepresented in retail parks, supermarkets, roadside and transport locations.
Shares in Greggs were down 4.5%, extending 2025 losses to 44%.
Despite the slump, Currie, CEO since 2022, said she did not believe her job was under threat.
“I’m not responsible for the share price,” she said. “My job is to make sure that we continue to take every opportunity and make strategic progress.”
Greggs made a pretax profit of 63.5 million pounds ($84.8 million) in the six months to June 28, on total sales up 7.0% at 1.03 billion pounds, boosted by new store openings.
This month, Greggs warned full year profit “could be modestly below” 2024 levels after underlying sales growth slowed in a June heatwave that boosted demand for cold drinks but reduced overall shopper numbers.
Greggs’ growth is also being supported by the expansion of its menu, longer opening hours into the evening, increased delivery sales through Just Eat and Uber Eats and loyalty building through the Greggs App.
($1=0.7492 pounds)
Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Clarence Fernandez
The pan-European STOXX 600 index gained 0.5% by 0815 GMT
International News via Reuters:
European equities edged higher on Tuesday, lifted by gains in EssilorLuxottica amid a slew of corporate results, even as markets assessed the fallout from the newly inked trade deal between Washington and Brussels.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index gained 0.5% by 0815 GMT. Most regional bourses also traded higher, with Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC adding almost 1% each.
The benchmark STOXX 600 rose 0.9% to hit a four-month high early in Monday’s session but reversed course to close about 0.2% lower, as investors weighed the impact of a new 15% levy on most European Union goods, which is significantly higher than pre-2025 levels.
“The dust is still settling on the way the market’s looking at this trade deal and its assessment. I think the initial reaction was mainly a bit of a sigh of relief,” said Andrea Cicione, head of strategy and head of research at TS Lombard.
“At the end of the day tariffs are bad. Before we had 2.5%, now it’s 15% but between 10% and 15% there isn’t a huge deal. When the market comes to realise that it will start taking this agreement as a decent compromise.”
Ahead of the August 1 tariff deadline, U.S. President Donald Trump said a blanket 15% to 20% “world tariff” rate would be extended toward trading partners who do not negotiate separate trade deals with the U.S.
U.S. -China trade talks were in focus after officials from both sides met on Monday to resolve economic disputes, while seeking to extend the previous tariff truce by three months.
Aerospace and defence stocks added 1.9% after three straight days of losses. The new framework trade deal offered zero-for-zero tariffs on aircraft and parts. Airbus <AIR.PA>, Safran SA <SAF.PA> gained 1.9% and 2.7%, respectively.
Among individual stocks, Franco-Italian eyewear group EssilorLuxottica shares jumped 6% after the company reported an increase in first-half operating profit despite a tariff hit.
Dutch company Philips rose 10.3% to the top of the index after the healthcare technology group lowered its tariff impact estimates following the U.S.-EU trade deal.
On the flipside, car distributor Inchcape dropped 7.7% and ranked as the top decliner after posting a first-half profit drop due to tariff impact.
In a week packed with high-stakes economic events, investors will get their first glimpse of second-quarter GDP data from both the euro area and the U.S. on Wednesday, ahead of the Federal Reserve’s rate decision and the closely watched U.S. jobs report on Friday.
Reporting by Twesha Dikshit and Medha Singh; Editing by Eileen Soreng
The gunman was believed to have acted alone, and investigators had yet to determine a possible motive
International News via Reuters:
A gunman armed with an assault-style rifle killed four people inside a Manhattan skyscraper that houses the headquarters of the NFL and offices of several major financial firms and then shot himself dead, New York City officials said on Monday.
One of the four victims slain in the gun violence was a 36-year-old New York Police Department officer who immigrated to the U.S. from Bangladesh. Mayor Eric Adams described the officer, who had been on the force for about 3 1/2 years, as a “true blue” hero.
Authorities offered few details about the three other victims killed by the suspect – two men and a woman. A third male was gravely wounded by the gunfire and was “fighting for his life” in a nearby hospital, the mayor said.
New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the gunman, identified as Shane Tamura, 27-year-old Las Vegas resident with a history of mental illness, had driven cross-country to New York in recent days.
The gunman was believed to have acted alone, and investigators had yet to determine a possible motive for the shooting, Tisch told reporters at a late-night news briefing.
“Pure evil came to the heart of our city and struck innocent people and one of our police officers who were protecting those people,” Patrick Hendry, president of the Police Benevolent Association, said at the press conference.
The slain policeman, Didarul Islam, a father of two whose wife is pregnant with a third child, was working at the time as part of an NYPD program that allows its uniformed patrol officers to be assigned as security detail in commercial establishments.
The shooting spree in the evening rush hour began in the lobby of the Park Avenue tower in Midtown Manhattan, then shifted to the upper-story offices of a management company as the suspect took the elevator to the 33rd floor. The bloodshed came to an end when the gunman fatally shot himself in the chest, Tisch told reporters.
A photo of the suspect that CNN said was shared by police showing a gunman walking into the building carrying a rifle was published by a number of major news media outlets. Preliminary checks of the suspect’s background did not show a significant criminal history, the report added, citing officials.
The skyscraper at 345 Park Avenue houses offices of a number of financial institutions, including Blackstone and KPMG, along with the headquarters of the National Football League.
A large police presence converged on the area around the tower, according to Reuters journalists near the scene.
“I just saw a lot of commotion and cops and people screaming,” said Russ McGee, a 31-year-old sports bettor who was working out in a gym adjacent to the skyscraper, told Reuters in an interview near the scene.
Kyle Marshall, 38, was working at a Morgan Stanley office in a nearby Park building when his mother texted him, alerting him to an active-shooter incident, and asked if he was OK. “Then she texted me the address, and I was, like, ‘Oh my God. That’s right next door to my building,” he said.
Police kept Marshall and others inside that property on lockdown until after 8 p.m., he told Reuters. Marshall lives in the San Francisco area but comes to New York about once a month for work.
“It doesn’t make me feel less safe to be in Manhattan,” he said. “The police responded quickly.”
The FBI said agents from its New York field office were also responding to provide support at the scene.
Reporting by Lananh Nguyen, Michelle Nichols and Daniel Fastenberg in New York and Kanishka Singh in Washington; Additional reporting by Brad Brooks. Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Dan Burns, Sandra Maler, Frank McGurty and Michael Perry
Raynor’s gas station celebrates 25 years under Reginald Raynor with public giveaway
Raynor’s gas station in Southampton is in celebratory mode. The family business has been running for 46 years and Friday will mark the 25th year that it has been run solely by Reginald Raynor. Mr Raynor tells us there will be a public giveaway to mark the occasion.
An annual ceremony, paying tribute to those who have perished on the ocean, took place in the East End recently
Footage by Bermuda Media, courtesy of BISL
The Guild of the Holy Compassion, founded in 1918, recently held its Annual Wreath Laying Ceremony off the waters of St George’s.
The Guild tends to the graves of mariners who have died in the seas around Bermuda over the past century.
The Guild’s Dr Derek Tully and Henry Hayward were joined by current and retired marine pilots along with shipping company representatives, as they travelled out on the pilot boat St. David.
At Murray’s Anchorage, alongside the Bermuda Islander, Anglicvan Bishop Nicholas Dill presided over a ceremony in which he blessed the wreaths before they were laid on the ocean – the first being laid by Pilot Warden Mario Thompson.
Special mention was made of the St. George’s men who died on the Pilot Boat Ocean Queen in January 1927.
Dr Tully, secretary of the Guild, said, “this was a devastating loss to the St. George’s community.”
“The Pilot gig Ocean Queen was caught in a violent storm off the East End as they were preparing to escort a ship into Bermuda.”
“The men were never seen again, although the Pilot gig was found a day later floating off South Shore near Elbow Beach.”
As the ceremony drew to a conclusion, the Bermuda Islander sounded three long blasts on the ship’s horn … a poignant, audible acknowledgement of those who perish at sea.
There’s a duty of those who are free to acknowledge when others are not, says local Islamic leader
Ahead of the 191st anniversary of Emancipation, community leaders gathered at City Hall today to call on people to recognise our common humanity, and to also consider those currently suffering elsewhere in the world.
Above, Imagine Bermuda’s Glenn Fubler, the Peace Collective’s Aziza Furbert, and Emir Saleem Talbot, Imam of the Bermuda Islamic Cultural Centre, highlighted the violence in Gaza.
Portugal has only about 13 megawatts of battery storage capacity, and the goal is to reach 750 megawatts
International News via Reuters:
The Portuguese government plans to invest up to 400 million euros ($466 million) to improve grid management and boost battery storage following a massive blackout across Spain and Portugal in April.
Energy Minister Maria da Graca Carvalho said on Monday about 137 million euros of the investment would go towards improving the operational and control capacity of the electricity grid to help it deal with complex intermittent renewable power sources such as wind and solar.
The Spanish government said in a report last month that grid operator Redeia had miscalculated the correct mix of energy in the system on April 28, but also blamed some thermal power plants using coal, gas and nuclear, for failing to help maintain an appropriate voltage level.
A surge in voltage triggered a cascade of power plant disconnections, leading to the outage that spread to Portugal, which was importing electricity at the time.
Portuguese grid operator REN will install a so-called shunt device to accurately measure electrical current and prevent overloads as well as equipment to regulate voltage, improve power system stability and ensure consistent energy delivery, according to the plan.
Carvalho said that unlike in the past, when thermal power plants helped grid management with their stable supply, more renewable sources mean more intermittent and decentralised output which is harder to manage.
“We have to make our grid more secure, digital and modern … to support this new, more complex energy production model,” she told a press conference, adding that the government would prepare a decree to speed up implementation of the investments.
She also said the planned storage increase aimed to prevent a shutdown of the country, providing greater energy autonomy to critical infrastructure such as hospitals, fire departments, security forces, and other key public administration services.
Portugal has only about 13 megawatts of battery storage capacity, and the goal is to reach 750 megawatts, although no timetable has been set yet. According to the latest daily data from REN, electricity consumption in Portugal stood at 115 GWh on June 20.
($1 = 0.8581 euros)
Reporting by Sergio Goncalves; Editing by Andrei Khalip and Emelia Sithole-Matarise
The details of the two deals paint a more complicated picture than the headline figures suggest
International News via Reuters:
The European Union and the United States announced a tariff deal on Sunday that will see most EU exports face a 15% tariff, nearly three months after Britain locked in a 10% baseline tariff rate.
EU leaders have said their deal offers more certainty given the threat of higher U.S. tariffs from August but some politicians have criticised it as “unbalanced” and worse than Britain’s deal.
The details of the two deals paint a more complicated picture than the headline figures suggest, and not all the small print of the EU deal has been confirmed.
Here is a comparison of what we know about the two deals.
BASELINE TARIFFS
The EU has agreed a 15% baseline tariff for most of its exports to the United States. While this is lower than a rate of up to 30% previously threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump, it is higher than the baseline tariff rate of 10% which applies to British exports.
However, under the EU deal, 15% is the maximum tariff, and isn’t added to any existing rate. For Britain, the 10% base rate is in addition to the “most-favoured nation” (MFN) rates that the U.S. applies as a minimum to specific goods imports from all its trade partners, so the effective tariff rate is often higher.
For instance, the UK Fashion and Textile Association has highlighted that certain luxury products face an MFN tariff of around 35% in the U.S., despite a “baseline” rate of only 10%.
PHARMACEUTICALS
The U.S. is to announce the result of its so-called Section 232 trade investigations into certain sectors in a few weeks and decide on tariff rates.
The EU-U.S. deal already determines a 15% tariff for European pharmaceuticals, and the results of the investigations will not change that, U.S. officials said.
In its deal with Britain, the United States said it would negotiate “significantly preferential treatment outcomes on pharmaceuticals”, contingent on the outcome of the 232 investigations.
Asked if Britain would be impacted by tariffs on the pharma sector in August, Trump said that he could deal with Britain on pharma and he didn’t think the sector would be a “block” in talks.
In the meantime Britain faces no tariffs for its pharmaceuticals. Britain also pledged to try to improve the overall environment for pharma firms operating in the country, but it is tussling with multinationals over drug pricing.
STEEL
Tariffs on EU steel and aluminium exports will stay at 50%, but von der Leyen said these would later be cut and replaced by a quota system.
British steel and aluminium exports face a 25% tariff in the United States, which both sides have agreed will go down to zero once talks over quotas and supply chains are concluded.
Those talks have stalled over “melted and poured” rules about where the steel originates and how it is processed.
Britain’s Tata Steel has imported steel from India and the Netherlands after shutting blast furnaces last year, so Britain is seeking an exemption from a U.S. demand that steel needs to be “melted and poured” in Britain to qualify for lower tariffs.
AUTOS
Car exports from the EU to the U.S. face the baseline tariff of 15% in the deal struck on Sunday. While full details have not been published, neither side mentioned a quota for the number of cars covered by the rate.
Britain has negotiated a lower tariff of 10% for its car sector but it also has a 100,000-vehicle quota which leaves little room for export growth. Above that quota, British car exports face a tariff of 25%.
AEROSPACE
The EU will face no U.S. tariffs on aerospace exports, pending the outcome of a Section 232 probe into the sector.
Britain also has no tariffs on its aerospace sector after its deal with Washington reduced them from 10%.
Reporting by Alistair Smout in London, additional reporting by Jan Strupczewski and Philip Blenkinsop in Brussels; editing by Giles Elgood
China’s Central Meteorological Observatory said that heavy rainfall would continue to drench northern China over the next three days
International News via Reuters:
Swollen rivers, waterways and reservoirs across China exacerbated flooding and landslides on Monday that killed at least four people, as President Xi Jinping ordered “all-out” search and rescue efforts to minimise casualties.
Forty-one rivers across the country have flooded, state broadcaster CCTV said, citing China’s Ministry of Water Resources. The ministry said it had issued flood warnings for small and midsize rivers and mountain torrents.
Heavy rains intensified around Beijing and surrounding provinces on Monday, including those in central China such as Hunan and northern Inner Mongolia. Four people died in a landslide in northern Hebei and eight people were missing.
The recent floods and disasters have resulted in “significant casualties and property losses” in places such as Beijing and provinces of Hebei, Jilin and Shandong, Xi said, according to state news agency Xinhua.
In Beijing’s northern districts, at least 10,464 people were relocated as floodwater discharged from a reservoir in Miyun passed through Huairou, local authorities said in a social media post.
The maximum flood peak flow into the Miyun reservoir had reached a record high of 6,550 cubic metres per second over the weekend, authorities said.
Earlier on Monday, more than 4,400 villagers in Miyun had been resettled after flash floods and landslides, CCTV reported.
At an elderly care centre, some people were trapped as water levels rose close to the roof, the broadcaster said. Emergency rescue services swam into the building and used ropes to rescue 48 people.
Images circulated on China’s WeChat app showed areas of Miyun where cars and trucks were floating on a flooded road where water levels had risen so high that part of a residential building was submerged.
Electricity cuts were also affecting more than 10,000 people, in the area, CCTV said.
Northern China has seen record precipitation in recent years, exposing densely populated cities, including Beijing, to flood risks. Some scientists link the increased rainfall in China’s usually arid north to global warming.
China’s Central Meteorological Observatory said that heavy rainfall would continue to drench northern China over the next three days.
Hebei, hit hard by widespread flooding two years ago, raised its emergency response level to the second-highest on Monday as disaster risks mount.
Beijing issued its highest-level flood alert, and its meteorological observatory said rain would intensify, particularly in the second half of the night. Most areas of the city would have more than 150 mm of rainfall in six hours and some areas could reach more than 300 mm, it added.
The storms are part of the broader pattern of extreme weather across China due to the East Asian monsoon, which has caused disruptions in the world’s second-largest economy.
WIDESPREAD
In Shanxi province, videos from state media showed roads inundated by gushing currents of water and submerged vegetation including crops and trees.
Shaanxi, home to China’s historic city of Xian, also issued flash flood disaster risk warnings on Monday.
Authorities are carrying out search and rescue work across cities including Datong, where a driver in a Ford car lost contact while driving in the floods, the People’s Daily reported.
Two people were killed and two missing in Hebei province, CCTV said on Sunday morning. Overnight rain dumped a record 145 mm (5.7 inches) per hour on Fuping in the industrial city of Baoding, southwest of the capital.
In Hunan’s Liudiequan grand canyon in Chunkou town, water rose so rapidly on Sunday that a tourist was swept away, CCTV said.
China’s National Development and Reform Commission said on Monday that it was urgently arranging 50 million yuan ($7 million) to support Hebei.
The funds would be used to repair damaged roads and bridges, water conservancy embankments, schools and hospitals in the disaster area. The NDRC said it was “promoting the restoration of normal life and production as soon as possible.”
Chinese authorities closely monitor extreme rainfall and severe flooding as they challenge the country’s ageing flood defences, threaten to displace millions and wreak havoc on China’s $2.8 trillion agricultural sector.
Reporting by Farah Master and the Beijing newsroom; Editing by Michael Perry, Kate Mayberry and Giles Elgood
For Europe, finding a way to remove U.S. steel tariffs has become even more urgent as its smelters are losing scrap supplies to U.S. plants
International News via Reuters:
The European Union and United States will develop a metals alliance to mitigate the impact of subsidised Chinese production on global markets as part of their trade deal, European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said on Monday.
Sefcovic said that, in their hours of discussions to reach an agreement, U.S. officials came to realise the U.S. and EU steel sectors faced the same problem. As such, EU steel and aluminium makers will be granted a quota system with minimal or zero tariffs to replace U.S. President Donald Trump’s 50% import tariffs. The system is yet to be finalised.
“The agreement is clear prospect of joint action on steel, aluminium, copper and the derivatives in what I’d like to call a metals alliance, effectively creating a joint ring-fence around our respective economies through tariff rate quotas at historic levels with preferential treatment,” Sefcovic told a press conference.
“It became very, very clear that if it comes to steel and metals we are not each other’s problem.” he continued.
For Europe, finding a way to remove U.S. steel tariffs has become even more urgent as its smelters are losing scrap supplies to U.S. plants. Scrap is a major input in smelters because it is sold at a discount to primary metal and is less energy-intensive to turn into a finished product.
The possible alliance and quota system reveal growing momentum to counter Chinese output. At the Group of Seven (G7) nations finance meeting in May, officials agreed to tackle “excessive imbalances” in the global economy without explicitly naming China.
“I have to say that despite the strenuous efforts of my colleagues and myself and several long meetings with my Chinese counterparts, unfortunately, the list of the accumulated issues on the table will not get shorter, but just grew longer,” Sefcovic said, referring to last week’s EU-China Summit.
“Clearly the issue is overcapacity. The issue is linked with what we perceive as illegal subsidies.”
Reporting by Julia Payne; editing by Philip Blenkinsop and Giles Elgood
On Friday, July 25, Premier David Burt welcomed Dr. Sandy De Silva and Ms. Jennifer Wild of the Family Centre to the Cabinet Office for the presentation of this year’s Cup Match ribbons.
The ribbon campaign is an annual initiative tied to the Cup Match holiday, with proceeds supporting the Family Centre’s work with children and families across the island. Clarien Bank supports the effort by distributing the ribbons through its branches and helping to raise awareness.
Premier Burt said, “I encourage members of the public to support this campaign by wearing their team colours and contributing to the Family Centre’s important services.”
Ribbons are available island-wide in team colours, with all funds going toward the Centre’s therapeutic and community programmes.
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