THE HUB RETAIL RECRUITMENT’S WEEKLY NEWS SNIPPETS

Another Wednesday dawns, and with it The Hub Retail Recruitment’s Weekly News Snippets. This week, we look at: Footsie tumbles as Brexit gathers pace; Under investigation – price comparison sites; B&Q – another retailer under fire; Ted Baker bucks the trend; Philip Green up in front of Parliament today.

Footsie tumbles as Brexit gathers pace: the stay and go campaigns are both trotting out their predictions like there’s no tomorrow as the vote starts to loom large. And it’s starting to look as if the prospect of leaving is gathering pace. But the FTSE doesn’t like it – and neither does the money markets. The Footsie has fallen to below 6000, and the value of the pound has dropped against the dollar. There’s no doubt about it, the UK’s possible withdrawal from the EU is making the markets very jittery. Here’s an article that summarises the effect so far.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/06/14/ftse-100-slides-towards-6000-and-pound-falls-as-brexit-fears-dri/

Under investigation – price comparison sites: Many of us use price comparison sites – and it would seem that the energy ones are going to be investigated by the CMA (Competition and Markets Authority). The suspicion is that websites have agreed not to compete with each other when we search on Google for the best deals. Apparently Ofgem, the energy regulator started the initial investigation that included Moneysupermarket and uSwitch, but had to hand it over to the CMA as its staff had suggested to the companies it was looking at that they might like to change their practices and therefore were conflicted. It’ll be interesting to see if the CMA investigation stays on energy, could it go wider? And will it undermine consumer confidence in comparison sites for things like our car insurance. One to watch that’s for sue.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jun/14/price-comparison-sites-competition-markets-authority-energy-google

B&Q – another retailer under fire: It would seem that the new National Minimum Wage is having a serious effect on an industry that’s already struggling with difficult trading conditions, so retailers such as B&Q are having to find savings where it can by reducing hourly rates for things like unsocial hours and Sunday working. And it would appear that Tesco and M & S are next in line to be targeted by a campaign by ShareAction and Citizens UK as these retailers too try to comply by reducing terms and conditions where it can in order to pay the NMW. Read all about it in this article.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/14/bq-to-face-scrutiny-from-campaign-groups-over-pay-practices

Ted Baker bucks the trend: some good news from the High Street for a change. Ted Baker’s profits have really bucked the trend – rather than struggling in these difficult trading conditions, Ted Baker’s revenue has shot up by 11.3% for in-store trading, and on-line by a whopping 32.3%. It has opened stores in China, Canada, and the US, as well as concessions in the EU. We’d certainly noticed what a great range it’s offering its customers this Spring/Summer. Well done Ted – you’ve shown it can be done.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36525552

Sir Philip Green up in front of Parliament today: Here we go again – another round between Philip Green and the Business and Work and Pensions select committee. Last Friday, Sir Philip wrote a letter – which was published – saying he wouldn’t appear until Frank Field, the chairman of the committee resigned, as Sir Philip felt Mr Field was prejudiced against him. But this latest twist came to nothing as Mr Field ignored the call for his resignation. And Sir Philip said yesterday that he would, after all, be appearing. Such antics surely can’t help Sir Philip’s position? Well, let’s see how the latest chapter in this sorry story unfolds today.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36528426

That’s The Hub Retail Recruitment’s round up of news snippets for this week. We’ll be back again next Wednesday, 22 June. In the meantime, let us have your thoughts and comments on any of out top stories this week.