Businesses are rapidly growing their branded product lines in an attempt to meet changing consumer behaviour. Private labels now account for over 54.7% of sales made at grocery stores.

Retailer-owned products not being seen as a cheap alternative anymore, but instead, a way to convey luxury and exclusivity.

Price-Led Positioning is No Longer Dominating UK Supermarkets

Small UK businesses are aggressively growing

, with price-led positioning becoming a dated trend. It’s becoming evident that brands are no longer using their own branded products as a way to be a cheap alternative. Instead, supermarkets are now investing in more premium or luxury ranges, in an attempt to target different consumer demographics. Tesco’s Finest range is an example here, but at the same time, Sainsbury’s has also expanded their Taste the Difference range quite significantly.

Aldi and Lidl also have their own branded product lines. Supermarkets are relying more and more on consumer loyalty to support them through bigger operating costs. Consumers are more willing to try alternative supermarkets, and brands are trying to compete by offering exclusive products that can’t be found elsewhere.

Brands are Exploring Own-Branded Products outside the Grocery Sector

It’s not just the supermarket sector that is exploring brand-name products. Even outside the grocery sector, we are seeing brands launch their own lines as a way to control pricing, as well as packaging and sustainability goals. Boots, for example, have their own brand, Soap & Glory. We are also seeing a shift in entertainment.

Netflix is dominating with Netflix Originals, which reduces its reliance on licensing content for set periods of time. Spotify also has Spotify-exclusive podcasts as a way to differentiate itself from the competition. We are also seeing this trend in the iGaming sector. Visiting an online live casino UK site often means discovering a range of exclusive titles like The Sun Live Roulette that reflect the site’s identity. This allows brands to tweak the rules or offer new gameplay experiences for games like blackjack, roulette, and baccarat. At the same time, it also dials in on exclusivity, as brands can protect their content while appealing directly to their target audience.

Even though we are seeing big trends right now, it’s more of a structural change that is changing how businesses compete with each other. Supermarkets might be providing premium-level ready meals, but at the same time, the beauty sector is also building global cosmetic brands. This not only reduces the store’s reliance on vendors but also opens up the door to new and creative marketing opportunities.

For small businesses across the UK, brands can no longer get by with offering a standard range of products. If this approach is adopted, it’s simply a race to the bottom to see who can offer the lowest prices. By offering exclusivity, it becomes possible to offer a product nobody else does, and in instances like this, it becomes easier to set price points that cannot be compared or competed with. Brands are finally taking control of an unpredictable market, and consumers stand to benefit significantly.

Mumbai: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has asked mutual funds to use domestic stock exchange spot prices to value physical gold and silver held by exchange-traded funds.

The new rule will come into effect from April 1, 2026.

At present, fund houses use London Bullion Market Association prices to value physical gold and silver held by mutual fund schemes.

“…it was deliberated that polled spot prices published by recognised stock exchanges may be used for the valuation of gold and silver held by mutual fund schemes. As stock exchanges are subject to transparency and compliance requirements under the regulatory framework, using the spot price published by such regulated entities shall lead to a valuation reflective of domestic market conditions and also ensure uniformity in the valuation practices,” Sebi said in a circular on Thursday.

NVIDIA Corp. shares edged higher in pre-market trading Thursday after the AI chip leader reported blockbuster fiscal fourth-quarter results that topped Wall Street expectations, though investor enthusiasm remained tempered amid ongoing questions about the sustainability of the artificial intelligence boom.

NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) closed at $195.56 on Wednesday, up $2.71 or 1.41%, with after-hours and pre-market activity pushing it toward $197. Pre-market quotes showed gains of around 0.7% to 1% as of early Thursday. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $86.62 to $212.19, reflecting volatility tied to AI hype and periodic pullbacks.

The company’s fiscal fourth quarter, ended Jan. 25, 2026, delivered record revenue of $68.1 billion, a 73% surge from the same period a year earlier and a 20% increase sequentially. Analysts had anticipated around $66 billion, according to consensus estimates from LSEG and other sources. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.62, beating expectations of $1.53.

Data Center revenue, the powerhouse segment fueled by demand for GPUs in AI training and inference, reached a record $62.3 billion — up 75% year over year and 22% from the prior quarter. The segment accounted for the vast majority of total sales, underscoring NVIDIA’s dominance in the AI infrastructure market.

For the full fiscal 2026 year, NVIDIA posted revenue of $215.9 billion, a 65% jump from the previous year. GAAP net income for the year hit $120.1 billion, with diluted EPS of $4.90.

CEO Jensen Huang highlighted accelerating adoption of AI technologies, including agentic systems and reasoning models. In prepared remarks, he noted that “compute and revenues are equated” as customers race to build out AI capabilities. Huang emphasized broadening ecosystems and “skyrocketing” demand for advanced AI agents.

The company issued optimistic guidance for the current quarter (fiscal first quarter 2027), projecting revenue of $78 billion, plus or minus 2%. That figure comfortably exceeded analyst models, which had hovered around $66 billion to $72 billion in some forecasts. Gross margins remained robust, with non-GAAP at 75.2%.

Despite the beats on both top and bottom lines, and the raised outlook, NVIDIA shares showed only modest movement in extended trading. Analysts pointed to a “show-me-more” sentiment among investors accustomed to outsized beats in recent quarters. Concerns linger over potential competition from rivals like AMD and Intel, customer concentration risks — particularly with major cloud providers — and questions about whether AI capital spending will moderate after years of explosive growth.

Some market watchers described the reaction as muted, with the stock failing to rally sharply despite the strong numbers. One CNBC report noted that “investor concerns around the AI infrastructure boom dampened enthusiasm” for the results.

NVIDIA’s trajectory has made it one of the world’s most valuable companies, with a market capitalization approaching or exceeding $4.8 trillion in recent sessions. The stock has more than doubled in value over the past year in some periods, though it has pulled back from October 2025 highs amid broader tech sector rotation and valuation debates.

The earnings release comes as Big Tech continues pouring billions into AI data centers. NVIDIA’s GPUs remain the go-to hardware for training large language models and running inference at scale. Supply chain commitments rose significantly, with the company noting strategic inventory secures to meet demand “beyond the next several quarters.”

Huang and CFO Colette Kress addressed ecosystem expansion during the earnings call, pointing to partnerships and software advancements that extend beyond raw chip sales. They also touched on limited H200 shipments to China amid export restrictions, though no meaningful revenue impact was reported yet.

Wall Street remains broadly bullish on NVIDIA’s long-term prospects, with many analysts maintaining buy ratings and high price targets. However, the bar is extraordinarily high after multiple quarters of dramatic outperformance.

As AI adoption spreads from hyperscalers to enterprises and edge applications, NVIDIA is positioning itself at the center. Whether the current quarter’s $78 billion forecast materializes will be a key test of whether the AI spending cycle has further legs.

Mumbai: Motilal Oswal Alternates, the alternative investment arm of Motilal Oswal Financial Services, announced the first close of its maiden private credit fund, at ₹1,700 crore. The fund-India Credit Excellence Fund-I-launched in January, is targeting a total corpus of ₹3,000 crore including a green shoe option.

The fund will focus on secured lending and bespoke customised solutions targeting mid-market businesses that are profitable, growing and fundamentally creditworthy, yet unable to access capital at the right tenor and structure from banks or capital markets, it said.

“The platform’s entry into this asset class is a natural extension of its existing capabilities. Our strategy spans senior secured lending across growth capital and dislocated credit situations, with the ability to opportunistically participate in equity upside,” said Rakshat Kapoor, head and chief investment officer, private credit, Motilal Oswal Alternates. The company estimates the addressable private credit market would surpass ₹10 lakh crore over the next few years, he said.

Netflix dropped its bid to buy Warner Bros. after the studio announced Paramount’s latest bid to buy the entire company was “superior.”

“The transaction we negotiated would have created shareholder value with a clear path to regulatory approval. However, we’ve always been disciplined, and at the price required to match Paramount Skydance’s latest offer, the deal is no longer financially attractive, so we are declining to match the Paramount Skydance bid,” Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters said in a statement. 

They continued, “Warner Bros. is a world-class organization, and we want to thank David Zaslav, Gunnar Wiedenfels, Bruce Campbell, Brad Singer and the WBD Board for running a fair and rigorous process. We believe we would have been strong stewards of Warner Bros.’ iconic brands, and that our deal would have strengthened the entertainment industry and preserved and created more production jobs in the U.S. But this transaction was always a ‘nice to have’ at the right price, not a ‘must have’ at any price.”

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said “we are excited about the potential of a combined Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery and can’t wait to get started working together telling the stories that move the world.”

PARAMOUNT REFUSES TO BACK DOWN IN WARNER BROS. DISCOVERY TAKEOVER FIGHT AGAINST NETFLIX

Earlier in the day, Warner Bros. Discovery said Paramount’s latest offer was “superior.”

“Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. today announced that its Board of Directors, following consultation with its independent financial and legal advisors, has determined that the previously disclosed proposal from Paramount Skydance Corporation constitutes a ‘Company Superior Proposal’ as defined in WBD’s merger agreement with Netflix, Inc.” the company said in a press release.

Paramount’s revised offer raises WBD’s value to $31.00 per share, putting the company’s evaluation at $111 billion. Paramount would additionally pay the $2.8 billion termination fee that would go to Netflix if WBD backs out of their deal.

“We are pleased WBD’s Board has unanimously affirmed the superior value of our offer, which delivers to WBD shareholders superior value, certainty and speed to closing,” Paramount CEO David Ellison said in a statement.

Ellison’s billionaire father Larry Ellison is personally backing Paramount’s bid committing $45.7 billion in equity through the Ellison Trust while Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi and Apollo will provide a $57.5 billion debt commitment.

NETFLIX CO-CEO ACCUSES JAMES CAMERON OF SPREADING ‘MISINFORMATION’ ABOUT WARNER BROS. ACQUISITION 

In December, Warner Bros. announced it had reached a deal with Netflix to buy the Hollywood studio and HBO for $83 billion, prompting Paramount to launch a $108 billion hostile takeover bid for the entire company, including all of its cable assets like CNN, which would have been spun off into a separate company under the Netflix deal.

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Both the Paramount and Netflix bids for Warner Bros. had sparked panic across the entertainment industry. 

Critics of the Paramount bid fear putting two legacy studios under one company would lead to mass layoffs and worry about Ellison taking over CNN, while critics of Netflix are concerned about the streaming giant’s growing influence and whether it will commit to theatrical windows for film releases in support of movie theaters.

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FedEx announced Thursday that it will return any tariff refunds it may receive to its customers who paid them as it seeks compensation from the federal government for tariffs paid that were subsequently ruled illegal.

The shipping giant said in a statement that it intends to return any tariff refunds to shippers and customers who bore the cost of the tariffs. The move follows the Supreme Court’s ruling last week that a key portion of President Donald Trump’s trade agenda – his tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) – was struck down as illegal.

“We remain focused on supporting our customers as they adapt to the latest regulatory changes and have taken a procedural step to preserve our right to refunds for IEEPA tariffs on behalf of our customers and FedEx,” the company said.

“Our intent is straightforward: if refunds are issued to FedEx, we will issue refunds to the shippers and consumers who originally bore those charges. When that will happen and the exact process for requesting and issuing refunds will depend in part on future guidance from the government and the court,” FedEx’s statement continued.

FEDEX SUES TRUMP ADMINISTRATION FOR FULL TARIFF REFUNDS AFTER SUPREME COURT RULING ON IEEPA

“We are committed to transparency and will communicate clearly as additional direction becomes available from the U.S. government and the court,” FedEx added while directing customers to a tariff-related webpage on the company’s site that will host the latest information on the topic.

The Supreme Court struck down the IEEPA tariffs after finding that the law cited by Trump in implementing the import taxes didn’t authorize the president to impose tariffs, which meant the levies were unconstitutional. 

The ruling didn’t affect tariffs imposed by the Trump administration that used other legal authorities. The White House has signaled it aims to implement other tariffs to offset the IEEPA tariff revenue, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last month that the Treasury Department had the funds necessary for potential tariff refunds – though he said that may be a time-consuming process.

WILL REFUNDS BE ISSUED AFTER SUPREME COURT RULING ON TRUMP TARIFFS?

While the IEEPA tariffs were in effect, the federal government collected more than $150 billion under those authorities before they were struck down – revenue that could now be subject to tariff refunds, according to a range of estimates.

The nonpartisan Tax Foundation put the figure at about $150 billion in IEEPA tariffs collected, while the nonpartisan Penn-Wharton Budget Model’s estimate was $175 billion and an analysis by JPMorgan suggested a range of $150 billion to $200 billion.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
FDX	FEDEX CORP.	387.68	+5.09	+1.33%

With the case remanded to lower courts following the Supreme Court’s ruling striking down the IEEPA tariffs, it’s possible that the courts and the government may reach an agreement on a format for providing refunds to tariff-payers.

However, there are currently avenues to pursue tariff refunds by filing suit in the U.S. Court of International Trade, which FedEx and more than 1,000 companies have done, and through appeals to U.S. Customs and Border Protection – which collects tariffs on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security and remits them to the Treasury Department.

HOW SHOULD BUSINESSES APPROACH TARIFF REFUNDS?

A recent study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that U.S. businesses and consumers bore 86% of the tariff burden, while foreign exporters bore 14% as of November 2025. 

The New York Fed’s researchers found that the share borne by U.S. businesses and consumers declined over the year from 94% in the January through August period to 92% in September and October.

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Those findings are similar to those contained in another analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which noted in its 10-year budget and economic outlook that foreign exporters were absorbing about 5% of the tariff costs with the remaining 95% falling on U.S. firms and consumers.