Your commercial news round-up: British Gas, Depop, working hours

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Have you been keeping up with the commercial news? Warmer UK weather has impacted British Gas’ profits, eBay has acquired Depop from Etsy and data shows that retailers plan to cut working hours. Read on for more!

• British Gas owner Centrica saw an £80 million decrease in profits in 2025, which has been attributed to warmer weather across the UK. Alongside customers reducing energy usage, profits were hit by the growing take‑up of cheaper fixed‑rate tariffs over variable plans. Despite this, CEO Chris O'Shea said British Gas has grown its customer base for the first time in more than a decade. Across the whole Centrica group, operating profits were £814 million last year, a reduction from £1.55 billion in 2024. Head of markets at AJ Bell, Dan Coatsworth, said that Centrica has lost the "momentum" it enjoyed when gas prices spiked a few years ago. Centrica has revealed plans to pause its share buyback programme to focus on investing in the business, including allocating more money to projects like the Sizewell C nuclear power plant in Suffolk.
   
• Etsy has sold second-hand clothing app Depop to eBay for $1.2 billion, five years after buying the business for $1.6 billion. While Depop was one of the earliest fashion resale platforms, increased competition from rivals such as Vinted has weighed on its valuation. Retail analyst Catherine Shuttleworth explained: "As Vinted made investments into global markets and improved its tech platform, more sellers gravitated towards it." The deal, which is expected to complete in the middle of the year, is aimed at helping eBay reach “a younger demographic across the expanding re‑commerce landscape”. According to Etsy, close to 90% of Depop’s seven million active users are under the age of 34. Following the news, Etsy’s share price rose more than 15% in after-hours trading, while eBay’s shares grew by almost 6.5%.
   
• Almost two-thirds (61%) of bosses at retail companies plan to reduce working hours or overtime, according to a survey from the British Retail Consortium (BRC), amid rising employment costs due to increases in employer national insurance contributions and a higher legal minimum wage. Over the past year, the retail sector has cut 74,000 jobs partly due to new technology, such as AI marketing and stock management tools, as well as automated tills. In-person stores also face competition from low-cost online retailers like Shein, Vinted and Temu. The BRC survey found that 69% of retail finance bosses were “pessimistic” or “very pessimistic” about the outlook, an increase from 56% in July last year. BRC CEO Helen Dickinson said: “We all want more high-quality, well-paid jobs. But retail has already lost 250,000 roles in the past five years and youth unemployment is climbing fast.” She explained that the implementation of employment reforms over coming years “will make or break job opportunities”.

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