UK multiples load onto the VAT rise

Perhaps now is the time that the multiples intend making up for the losses suffered through below-cost selling over Christmas (and for a considerable time before that)?

Supermarkets in the UK have been caught out using the New Year VAT rise there as an excuse to load price increases for wine, beer and spirits.

With the new year UK VAT rates rose to 20 per cent, up 2.5 per cent, but research by the Sunday Mirror found that some of the UK’s biggest supermarkets had increased the cost of alcohol by up to 43 per cent in some cases. For example a 500ml bottle of Budweiser at Tesco had gone up 27 per cent from £1.27 (€1.53) to £1.62 (€1.94) while a bottle of Wolf Blass Cab Sauv at Sainsbury’s jumped 43 per cent to £7.65 (€9.20) from £5.49 (€6.6.0).