Bloomberg After delaying spending on its fleet for too long during a turnaround program, Qantas Airways Ltd. faces a possible funding squeeze when it’s time to buy new planes, according to S&P Global Ratings. The Australian flag carrier needs to increase investment in its aging fleet of 309 planes before the sum required is too large to handle, S&P said …

Bloomberg UK retail sales barely grew in January, more evidence consumers are reluctant to splash out amid a squeeze from rising prices. Sales increased 0.1 percent from December, far below the 0.5 percent gain forecast by economists in a Bloomberg survey. From a year earlier, sales rose 1.6 percent, the weakest for a January in four years, the Office for …

Bloomberg Tesco Plc faces growing investor pressure to sweeten its 3.9 billion pound ($5.5 billion) offer for wholesaler Booker Group Plc ahead of a shareholder vote in less than two weeks. Alpine Associates Management Inc. opposes Tesco’s offer on the existing terms and believes Booker shareholders should vote against the deal, the investor said by email. Alpine has an economic …

Bloomberg US shoppers may be ordering more clothing than socks and underwear on Amazon after all. Amazon.com Inc. is spiriting away share of apparel sales from Target Corp., Macy’s Inc. and JC Penney Co., according to a report by Coresight Research. Amazon Fashion is tied with Target as the second-most-shopped apparel retailer in the US, behind Walmart Inc., as measured …

Bloomberg Walmart Inc. is introducing low-cost clothing brands for women, kids and plus-size customers, aiming to lure shoppers as Amazon.com Inc. gobbles up more apparel sales. The store brands include Time and Tru in ladieswear — which will replace the jettisoned DanskinNow label — along with Terra & Sky in plus-size apparel and Wonder Nation for kids, according to a …

Bloomberg Investors in Hennes & Mauritz AB left its first ever capital markets day wondering whether the retailer is aware its clothes seem to be going out of fashion. With the value of their H&M shares down about 45 percent since the end of 2016, owners said management gave a lot of details on pretty much everything except the main …

Bloomberg Kraft Heinz Co. suffered its worst stock decline in more than two years after posting disappointing sales and profit, boosting speculation that the food giant will need a large acquisition to fuel growth. The shares tumbled as much as 7 percent in the wake of the results, which reflected a persistent slump in the US packaged-food industry. Though Kraft …

Bloomberg Air France-KLM Group said it will accelerate capacity increases despite an uncertain economic climate in order to defend its share of an air-travel market that’s becoming flooded with discount rivals. The Paris-based carrier will boost seating by up to 4 percent this year in a bid to combat the low-cost challenge, even as fuel expenses jump by a forecast …

Bloomberg Airbus SE promised 20 percent earnings growth this year — pushing the stock up the most since 2008 — so long as it can iron out persistent manufacturing problems on two key aircraft programs. The European planemaker ended 2017 with a record order backlog and delivered more jets than ever before. The shares advanced as much as 10 percent …

Bloomberg Add independent Nigerian drillers to the list of oil producers itching to supply more crude at a time when OPEC and allies like Russia are trying to restrict output and prop up prices. Domestic Nigerian producers are aiming to pump almost 250,000 barrels a day more crude by 2020 as part of a wider plan for the nation to …