THE price of a fish-and-chip takeaway has jumped by almost a fifth in a year, with the average customer now getting just £1 change from a tenner.
But our national dish is still cheaper than pizza or a curry, according to a new shopping price comparison tool by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
3
Andrew Crook, president of the National Federation of Fish Friers, told The Sun that chippies had been battered by a perfect storm of rising costs including a trebling of energy bills and a 35 per cent tariff on fish sourced from Russia.
Poor potato harvests have doubled the cost of a sack of spuds from £8 to £16.
Restricted supplies of sunflower oil has doubled its price which also helped drive up the cost of a fish-and-chip supper by 19 per cent to £9.
Food inflation hit a 45-year high of 19.2 per cent in March but some of the most commonly bought groceries have gone up more than that.
The price of a dozen eggs has risen by 32 per cent to £3.20, two pints of semi-skimmed milk have jumped 39 per cent to £1.33, and cheddar cheese has soared by 42 per cent to £9.29 per kilogram, according to the ONS.
Food inflation has rocketed since Russia invaded Ukraine as both countries are huge exporters of wheat and sunflower oil.
And the knock-on sanctions have affected wider grain and oil markets.
Global wholesale food and gas prices have now started to fall, but shoppers have yet to see the benefit of lower prices.
Most read in Business
MAIL’S DUMPED
JP MORGAN has dumped its entire 1.5 per cent stake in Royal Mail after “unsuccessful engagement” with the company on its postie strikes.
The Wall Street bank said “the complexity of the situation and sensitivity of profit reductions” meant “it was not clear a compromise could be reached”.
When it helped float the government’s Royal Mail stake in 2013 it said the public company could be worth £10billion — but it was listed at £3.3billion, sparking criticism taxpayers’ interests had been flogged on the cheap.
BANKS ‘SAFE’ FROM U.S. WOES
BOSSES at two of the biggest high street banks yesterday downplayed the risks of British lenders being caught up in a new global financial crisis.
Bank shares were hit in the US after JP Morgan’s rescue of First Republic failed to calm nerves.
3
At a fraught Barclays shareholder meeting, targeted by climate protesters, boss CS Venkatakrishnan said the bank was “insulated from the volatility” as it had strong risk management, robust liquidity and prudent lending.
Barclays chairman Nigel Higgins responded to protesters by defending Barclays’ role in financing energy firms, saying “the world cannot function without fossil fuels”.
He said exiting the sector “doesn’t square with requirements for energy security”.
Meanwhile, Lloyds finance boss William Chalmers said that the business had been unaffected by banking jitters and the drop in customer deposits was due to an increase in tax bills.
The bank posted a 46 per cent jump in first quarter profits to £2.26billion.
And Mr Chalmers said it had only seen a “very modest” rise in customers falling into arrears.
FLING BOSS QUITS
A MARRIED finance chief of a FTSE 100 firm has quit after admitting a relationship with a colleague had shown “shortcomings of judgment”.
David Egan, 55, resigned after seven years with RS Group, an electronic products distributor, saying his actions had “fallen short of the high standards expected”.
His exit will spark further debate about the acceptability of office romances.
In 2019, McDonald’s boss Steve Easterbrook left after admitting a relationship with an employee — a violation of anti-fraternisation policies.
FLUTTER GAMBLES ON FAME
THE boss of Betfair and Paddy Power said influencers and celebrities could be offered shares in the £28billion company following its New York listing.
Flutter won shareholder approval for a dual US stock exchange listing last week, adding to concerns that the London Stock Exchange is becoming less attractive for global businesses.
3
CEO Peter Jackson said US sales almost doubled last year as more states allow sports betting, and the country was now Flutter’s biggest market.
Mr Jackson said: “The depth of liquidity is there in the US.
“There are two-and-a-half times the trading volumes, and that’s important when people are thinking of investing.”
Flutter uses celebrities such as Abbey Clancy and Peter Crouch in its campaigns.
Mr Jackson added: “A lot of our competitors offer equity to influencers, and it’s good because it aligns our interests.”
‘No10 NOD’ TO BIZUK
THE leader of BizUK — set up in the wake of the CBI scandal — said the new lobby group has already got backing from No 10 and Labour.
Nick Faith, co-founder of PR firm WPI Strategy, launched BizUK as the CBI faced an exodus of members and dim chances of surviving a second rape allegation.
Mr Faith said that BizUK had already had “massive levels of interest” from FTSE 100 firms.
He added No 10 was “very receptive, as there is a void”.
