Company
Lidl is a German-founded discount supermarket chain operating stores across Europe and the US, known for low-price grocery retailing.
Lidl held 8.6% of the UK grocery market in the 12 weeks to October, up from 8.2% a year ago, Worldpanel by Numerator figures show. Aldi, the larger German discounter, slipped from 10.6% to 10.5% over the same period, so the gain is Lidl's alone.
Reality
Sainsbury's, the UK's second-largest grocer, held merger talks with sixth-placed Morrisons from November to February before walking away. A competition ruling on Aldi and Lidl due this month will shape how many stores a revived deal would cost.
Reality
Sainsbury's held exploratory talks this year on a Morrisons merger that would have created a grocer with 23.6% of the UK market, the FT and Sky reported. Any revival would turn on whether the competition regulator accepted store sales as the price of approval.
Reality
Tesco is weighing a sale of its Hungarian, Czech and Slovak arm, £4.5bn of its £66.6bn revenue last year, with Lidl among the interested parties. A sale would end its overseas expansion and free money and attention for a UK market where its share has recently slipped.
Reality
Lidl GB spent £315m on price cuts and promotions against pre-tax profit of £245.5m as its market share climbed past Morrisons. Deluxe grew only a little faster than the business as a whole, so Lidl's clearer edge over a slowing Aldi is its loyalty scheme.
Reality
Germany's Federal Motor Transport Authority has cleared an Einride truck with no cab and no safety operator to haul groceries between two Lidl sites on a public road. Einride shares traded at $3.79, about 11% of their 52-week high.
Reality
German firms' own attribution of attacks to state services has moved from 7% to nearly 40% in two years. That puts nation-state tradecraft on the risk register of any mid-sized manufacturer with a supplier list.
Reality