Without stores, BHS could thrive

THE BHS brand has returned from the dead. Bought from the administrators, it is back in Britain – albeit in virtual form. The new venture will sadly not offer hope for the staff left without jobs and impaired pensions and, to be clear, the owners have no responsibility for the past disaster and should be allowed a chance to revive the brand. The question is, can they?

I think they stand a reasonable chance. BHS.com will be a fascinating experiment in the new retail era. Bricks and mortar shops are a heavy burden for existing retailers. They cost money, but are providing almost no sales growth. Online is where the growth is. The BHS brand has, in one painful step, been freed of that cost. Under new ownership it could perhaps have a new lease of life. The online shoppers are younger – although still in their 30s and 40s. And the online operation, free from the old parent stores, will be able to stock products aimed at this slightly different market.

The only question is whether the brand name can ever be separated in the public mind from the toxic legacy of its recent owners.

Rivals will want to be sceptical, but this is an intriguing test case for the power of online and for the ability of brands to survive scandal. Those rivals will be watching results very closely. PASSPORTING, the system under which UK-based offices of financial firms can trade across Europe, is the single biggest Brexit issue in the City. The ability to trade across the single market from an office in London has been taken for granted by UK firms and has been the reason so many international groups – notably Swiss and American banks – have chosen London as their European headquarters.

Last week the Lloyds’ insurance market said it was examining whether it might need to open up subsidiaries on the Continent, with Paris and Frankfurt the obvious potential locations, in the event that full passporting is lost.

The question is not whether Brexit will damage the City, but rather how much? There are possible solutions that would give UK-based firms continued access. And perhaps that damage will be limited and bearable.

In recent weeks it has been suggested, for example, that Britain could leave the EU but join the European Banking Union – a unified system of regulation across the Continent.

But I fear the possible solutions will still fall foul of the politics. We could end up in a world where UK banks are still heavily regulated from Europe and where bricklayers cannot come to work in the UK, but bankers can. Is that really what Brexiteers thought they were voting for?