|
COPYRIGHT 2004 Financial Times Ltd.
(From The Lawyer)
The Philip Green bid for M&S is just the latest twist in the ongoing saga that is the retail sector. Joanne O'Connor talks to four of the industry's key in-house lawyers
It is a rare day in the financial press when retailers are not dominating the headlines. Financial performance, a spate of acquisitions, competition inquiries and regulatory changes ensure that the sector is more often than not the focus of public and professional attention - and even more so with Philip Green's move on Marks & Spencer last week.
But the challenges facing retailers are being met head-on by their in- house lawyers, often on ever-dwindling budgets. At Marks & Spencer (M&S), head of group legal services Robert Ivens sees mere survival as the key commercial issue facing many retailers. The march of supermarket retailers such as Tesco and Asda into non-food sales such as books, CDs and pharmaceuticals has had a major impact across the sector. Boots and WHSmith have both suffered as a result of competition from supermarkets encroaching on to their turf.
Both M&S and Boots have undergone radical cost-cutting schemes, while high-street electricals retailer Dixons has announced the closure of a third of its stores. At least half a dozen members of Boots' legal team have accepted voluntary redundancy, following the announcement in January that the pharmacy retailer would be slashing more than 900 jobs from its head office. M&S's legal department escaped unscathed from the retail giant's recent redundancy programme, largely thanks to Ivens' tight management of his nine-strong legal team. Indeed, in the past 12 months, Ivens has appointed four new lawyers.
However, not all retailers are reporting doom and gloom. GUS, the owner of Argos and Home Base, has reported...
Read the full article for free courtesy of your local library.
|
Bookmark this article
Print this article
Link to this article
Email this article
Digg It!
Add to del.icio.us
RSS
