Companies in the news ... and how they were assessed
Uber: civil war
Uber’s new boss, Dara Khosrowshahi, flew into London this week in hopes of reversing a ban in one of the car-hailing app’s “most important markets”, said Robert Wright in the Financial Times. At least he could count on local support. More than 851,000 people have signed a petition demanding that Transport for London (TFL) renew Uber’s licence – revoked last month on the grounds that Uber isn’t a “fit and proper” operator. Even the PM, Theresa May, has weighed in, calling Tfl’s decision “disproportionate”. Khosrowshahi, who took over from Uber’s controversial founder Travis Kalanick in August, promises a governance shake-up, said The Times. (Coincidentally, Uber’s London boss, Jo Bertram, has announced her resignation.) But he is being hampered by a poisonous situation back home where the civil war among directors is escalating, said Robert Cyran on Reuters Breakingviews. Some are already suing each other. The real problem for Khosrowshahi is that Kalanick is “still a force” at the loss-making firm (last valued at nearly $70bn), and is resisting attempts to loosen his grip. Meanwhile, lawsuits from disgruntled investors continue to sprout, said Owen Davis on Dealbreaker. The latest to sue is the Irving (Texas) Firemen’s Relief & Retirement Fund, which invested $2m in 2016 and now accuses Uber and Kalanick of covering up “illicit business tactics”.
2 Sisters Food Group: fowl play?
Reports of the alleged goings-on at 2 Sisters Food Group (2SFG) – Britain’s biggest chicken supplier – aren’t for the “faint-hearted”, said The Guardian. Reporters working undercover at the outfit’s West Bromwich processing plant found workers “packing chicken pieces that had been picked off the floor, mixing fresh with less-fresh meat, and fiddling key information about slaughter dates”. Experts said that consumers could have been duped into buying chicken past its use-by date. 2SFG, which processes some six million chickens a week and is “the UK’S second-largest food company by turnover”, is part of a sprawling £3bn privately-held food empire built by “chicken king” Ranjit Singh Boparan and his wife Baljinder. The couple also own turkey producer Bernard Matthews and restaurant chains Harry Ramsden, Fishworks and Giraffe, along with Fox’s Biscuits and Goodfella’s pizza. Boparan has a tough reputation. “You don’t often come out of the right side of a deal with him,” a colleague in the food business told the London Evening Standard. He also hates publicity. Sadly for him, this saga looks set to run, said Andrew Ellson in The Times. Two big supermarket customers, M&S and Aldi, have suspended chicken purchases, and the Food Standards Agency has announced an inquiry.
H&M: no woman’s land
“Everyone likes a bargain,” said Lex in the FT. And there are always plenty to be found at H&M. Yet the Swedish chain now finds itself in the “no woman’s land” of fashion retail: struggling “to keep footfall and profitability steady, while fighting off an online challenge from the likes of Asos”. The company has been discounting stock and promises a “more efficient supply chain”. But the deeper worry is that H&M has fallen victim to changing fashions. Fears of “peak Scandi” have damaged the brand, causing shares to fall “hygge mugger” – they’ve lost 40% since their high of 2015. With another quarter of discounting to come, expect H&M to stay on the “reduced” rack for a while longer.