As always, this week has been a busy time for business news. Besides the head of the International Monetary Fund endorsing the UK Governments economic strategy and the AA accusing fuel retailers of swindling the public, Ryanair are looking at reducing its share in Aer Lingus, Nestle reported healthy sales, the new Star Wars trailer added £1.3 billion to Disney’s stock value and despite Germanys warning around Greece’s credit the fears failed to depress the FTSE.

Unemployment Down, Britain Working, Mattel in Trouble

The biggest news of the week was the announcement that employment within the Untied Kingdom fell to 1.84 million, a 1.3% drop from the same time period last year. Employment hit a record high with 31.05 million people in employment.

The head of the IMF endorsed the economic strategy being used by the UK Government, playing down the differences between the current debt and the IMF calculation for the future deficit and the optimistic vision presented by the Office for Budget Responsibility, Christine Lagarde stated “It’s obvious what’s happening in the UK has worked”.
She further claimed that the figures were practically the same, only calculated differently. The IMF predicted the UK would suffer a deficit of £7 billion in 2019/2020, compared to the Office of
The IMF had predicted that the UK would have a deficit of £7bn in 2019-20, while the OBR expects there to be a surplus of £7bn.

Besieged American Toymaker, Mattel, found its sales drop for a consecutive sixth quarter – feeding the theory that the appeal of the iconic Barbie continues to wane. Down by 2.5%, net sales fell alongside the companies widening net loss.

Fuel Price War

The AA has pointed the finger at retailers of fuel for “plundering drivers’ pockets” by increasing the cost of diesel and petrol unreasonably.

Over the past 30 days, the AA has claimed that the price of oil had fallen by almost 5%, however petrol costs are up 1.2%. This results in an additional 1.73p per litre of petrol (and 0.63p per litre of diesel).

The claims from retailers state that wholesale costs are up, making inevitable price increases at the petrol pumps. One reason is that oil is priced in dollars – of which the pound has fallen against. The claim that the cost of refining and transport (up to $613 per tonne) has risen dramatically and that retailers are making a “tiny” profit with many stations closing as the result have fallen on deaf ears.

The AA’s president, Mr Edmund King, said that motorists were continuing to loose out. He stated that “cars are like blank cheques for whoever feels the need to balance the books by plundering drivers pockets”.
The RAC has also waded in on the argument with a claim that, even when wholesale costs were down, retailers continue to increase the price of diesel.

Mr King also added “the fuel retailers are taking £3 a tank extra on diesel to steady their finances.”