Good morning. If you’re bored of your normal morning pick-me-up then you might be ready for the next coffee trend involving olive oil. Yesterday Starbucks, the world’s biggest coffee-shop operator, launched a range of olive oil-infused beverages in Italy which will be landing in the UK later this year.

Big Stories

Lloyds boosted by rates

The UK’s biggest mortgage lender Lloyds Banking Group reported an 20% increase in revenue to £4.7bn in the final three months of 2022 as it benefited from rising interest rates. Like its peers Lloyds has faced criticism for not increasing savings rates as much as borrowing rates. Despite the rise in revenue, profits remained flat as it set aside more funds to protect itself from a potential increase in loan defaults. The bank revealed that staff would share a £446m bonus pot – the highest since 2018 – and follows the government's decision to remove the cap on banker bonuses last year. The bank also forecast that the UK economy will shrink 1.2% this year before returning to growth in 2024 and that house prices will fall by about 7% in 2023.

Buyers shun Cineworld

The world’s second largest cinema chain has received no interest to buy its UK and US operations, its two biggest markets. Cineworld which operates 751 sites worldwide went bankrupt last September under a $6bn debt load as it struggled to recover audiences lost during the pandemic. The company has received offers for other assets in eastern Europe and Israel. The company has been marketing itself for new investors with a preference for selling the whole group rather than breaking it up.

She means business

Last year female entrepreneurs founded 151,603 businesses in the UK, 20% of all corporations and more than ever before, as the government tries to make it easier for firms led by women to prosper. The report commissioned by the Treasury also sets out the importance of increasing support in the face of economic headwinds. The government has set the target of increasing the number of women launching companies by half by 2030 — equivalent to nearly 600,000 female entrepreneurs. The review found that breaking down barriers faced by women entrepreneurs, such as a lack of access to funding, could boost the economy by £250bn.

Consulting cut backs

McKinsey plans to eliminate about 2,000 jobs - after adding 17,000 over the past 5 years – in one of the consulting giant’s biggest rounds of cuts ever. The firm, known for devising staff-reduction plans for its clients, is taking the axe to some of its own, with the move expected to focus on non-client facing support staff, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Management is hoping the move will help preserve the compensation pool for its partners. The plan is expected to be finalised in the coming weeks and the final number of roles to be eliminated from its 45,000 workforce could still change.

Elsewhere...

Eating less greens: Tesco and Aldi have joined Asda and Morrisons in rationing certain fresh produce lines as shortages of salad crops hit the UK.

Walking out: London Underground drivers are to strike on 15 March in an ongoing dispute over pay and conditions.

Driving ahead: British-Ukrainian car finance startup Carmoola has raised £103.5m to grow its team.

Alcohol acquisition: Bill Gates has bought a $900m stake in drinks giant Heineken, although the billionaire founder of Microsoft has previously said he was "not a big beer drinker."

AI competition: Chinese search giant Baidu is launching a ChatGPT rival called Ernie Bot in March.

Raising the wage: Japanese motor industry giants Toyota and Honda say they have agreed to give their workers in the country the biggest pay rises in decades.

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Number Of The Day

14,125

The number of islands Japan has identified it has in a recent mapping. 7,000 more than previously thought.

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