Royal Mail, Beyoncé’s Ivy Park, House of Fraser, mince pies: your commercial news round-up

If commercial awareness means keeping up with the latest commercial news stories affecting law firms and businesses, then there can be no more timely news than that of the Brexit mayhem currently taking place. With Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab and Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey resigning this morning, and the pound falling in retaliation, how many more cabinet ministers will quit by the time we finish writing the commercial news round-up today? You can keep up with all the Brexit updates here. But first, take a brief reprieve from all the chaos by reading our summaries of pertinent business news stories:

• Royal Mail profits have more than halved to £33 million after warnings at the start of October. The company earlier this year revealed that cost savings would be just £100 million this year, instead of the forecasted £230 million. Despite this drastic reduction in profit, there was a 1% rise in revenues, with revenue from European parcel operations up 9% and revenue from UK parcels and letters down by 1%. Royal Mail will be taking a “range of actions” to improve performance.
• Beyoncé has cut her ties with Topshop owner Sir Philip Green and bought out his share in her sportswear clothing label Ivy Park. Green has been the subject of numerous allegations of inappropriate behaviour, as revealed by Labour peer Lord Hain last month. The Ivy Park brand was launched by Beyoncé and Green’s Topshop/Arcadia in 2016.
• House of Fraser is set to close another four stores after it was bought out of administration by Sports Direct billionaire Mike Ashley in August. The retailer’s stores in Lakeside, Metrocentre, Norwich and Nottingham will all be shut in the new year after the department stores’ “greedy landlords” refused to reduce rents. The four shops represent 1% of House of Fraser’s rent and around 526,000 square feet of retail space.
• And finally, the news you’ve all been waiting for: which supermarket won the annual festive mince pie test? This year Asda came out on top, beating Waitrose and Harrods with their own brand Extra Special mince pies. The taste test was carried out by consumer group Which? who commented that overall standards are down this year, with supermarkets choosing cheaper ingredients in a bid to keep down prices.

Be sure to check the News every Thursday for this weekly commercial news round-up. Follow @LawCareersNetUK on Twitter and like us on Facebook for instant business news updates.