Retail round-up: Tesco vows to stop selling eggs from caged hens within nine years, and MasterCard to pay £68.5m to Sainsbury’s.

Tesco to stop selling eggs from caged hens

Tesco will stop selling eggs from caged hens by 2025 following a petition by a teenager, The Guardian reported.

The online petition, which attracted 280,302 signatures, described the farming method as “cruel, unnatural and inhumane”.

The supermarket will follow Sainsbury’s, Marks & Spencer and Aldi in committing to stop selling caged hen eggs.

Tesco said its announcement followed a detailed study of its egg-sourcing strategy, which included consultation with suppliers, industry experts and other stakeholders.

Currently, 43% of the 1.4 billion eggs sold by Tesco each year come from caged hens, also known as "enriched colonies". The remaining 57% come from free-range or organically farmed hens.

MasterCard to pay £68.5m to Sainsbury’s over interchange fees

MasterCard has been ordered to pay Sainsbury’s £68.5m after losing a case over charges imposed on credit and debit card payments, the Financial Times reported.

The Competition Appeal Tribunal ruled that MasterCard had broken both EU and UK competition laws on interchange fees, which it made on cards used by Sainsbury’s customers.

Retailers in the UK and Europe are seeking combined damages of more than £1.2bn from MasterCard over these fees.