Bread to be next frontier in supermarket wars … Australia “attractive” for money laundering … Adairs bounces back

Baked goods are set to be the new battleground in the price war between Coles and Woolies, with Coles announcing on Wednesday it plans to lower prices on a range of loaves.

Woolworths was quick to follow, saying it would price match on products where it didn’t already have the lowest price point.

Fairfax reports the cost of lowering of the price point at Coles will be “shared” between the supermarket and suppliers.

“We know bread is a household staple and always on the shopping list, so we’re working hard to lower the price of bread,” Coles general manager of bakery, Jon Haggett, told Fairfax.

Concerns Australia a hotspot for money laundering

ANZ’s head of financial crime has hit out at federal government policy on money laundering, calling on an extension of laws to cover accountants, lawyers and real estate agents.

The ABC reports the bank’s head of financial crime, Guy Boyd, told the broadcaster’s The Business program there had been a lack of political will to strengthen legal frameworks, caused in part by “very vocal opposition” from some sectors.

The comments come as a two-year report from the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) found half of the 663 suspicious matters reported to it over this period had to do with fraud, while 21% were related to money laundering.

Sweet dreams for Adairs

Bedding and homewares business Adairs released a positive trading update to the market yesterday, which saw the company’s share price jump from the 95c mark to $1.29.

The company’s chief executive Mark Ronan said the business had successfully turned around some of the disappointing results in the first half of last financial year, making changes to the linen categories on offer to draw shoppers back into the fold.

Like-for-like sales where down 6.8% in the second quarter of 2017, but jumped to a 3.8% increase in the final part of the year, with the retailer expecting to book $140.4 million in sales in the six months to June 30.

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