‘There are only so many hits you can take as a business’: Both sides being hurt by fishing dispute
Brexit is done, and for many, there’s genuine relief it’s over.
But ongoing disagreements and post-treaty disputes are having real world costs to businesses who say they feel let down and misled by the Brexit process.
The row over fishing rights and the threat of retaliatory action from the French have already cost one oyster producer in Kent tens of thousands of pounds worth of business.
Meanwhile, Sky News has learned that the Department for Transport has asked a Kent lorry park that is due to close shortly, to stay open for a few months longer over Christmas to help with anticipated extra pressure on an already strained supply chain.
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France postpones sanctions over fishing row
“There are only so many hits, so many body punches you can take as a business and get back up and start again,” says James Green, director of The Whitstable Oyster Company.
Mr Green’s business is based in the picturesque north Kent town, famous for its oysters.
It has farmed oysters for generations and is responsible for about a third of the UK’s entire production.
But Brexit has already cost them dearly. New rules mean he can no longer export fully-grown market-sized oysters to France – those exports had accounted for around 50% of his orders, and that disappeared overnight.
James Green voted for Brexit but says he feels misled
He moved his focus to building up the domestic market, an encouraging albeit slow process, and continuing to export juvenile oysters to France.
This is still allowed because the juveniles are put back in the sea off the coast of France, to be harvested later by his buyers.
But last week as the post-Brexit fishing row intensified, French threats set him back further.
In a disagreement over how many licenses have been granted to French trawlers operating in British waters, France’s president Emmanuel Macron set an ultimatum, demanding the UK grant more or face retaliatory measures including British boats being banned from landing their catch in France and increased customs checks on exported British goods.
Such tightened restrictions might have included the removal of veterinary checks in France that are necessary for James to sell his oysters there. His buyers got nervous and cancelled orders – he lost roughly £25,000 worth in just a few days.
Mr Green’s business is based in the picturesque north Kent town of Whitstable
“With farms you can’t stop, you’ve got to continue otherwise the stock becomes unsellable,” he said.
“There are quite a lot of costs involved in continuing that process, so it’s frustrating.
“Coupled with COVID, coupled with Brexit, coupled with water quality from Southern Water, this is the fourth thing in the space of less than a year that has had a massive impact on our industry.
“You can’t just take away that main market overnight and expect these businesses to continue because they’re just not.”
Whitstable is famous for its oysters
Mr Green voted for Brexit in 2016, and said fishing rights were his key motivator. But the reality has not been as he was promised, and he said repeated reassurances that his exports would not be affected now feel misleading.
“I think the deal we got was very, very poor, very poor,” he said. “So I probably would change my vote, if I’m honest.”
The threats from France were deferred this week, paving the way for talks between Lord Frost, the UK’s chief Brexit negotiator and France’s Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune.
Under the Brexit deal, French trawlermen who had traditionally fished between six and 12 miles off the coast of the UK would be allowed to continue to do so as long as they could provide proof they had fished there every year since 2016.
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While the French have said that too few licenses have been granted, the British have said that those not approved have not provided sufficient evidence.
But despite all the smiles and handshakes for the cameras, positions on both sides are still entrenched and no significant progress was made.
The context this side of the Channel is not just businesses suffering, but a supply chain already stacked up.
Some say a system still grappling with global delays and a shortage of lorry drivers can’t cope with much more pressure.
Mr Green’s business has farmed oysters for generations
Any further delays or customs checks at ports may well be seen and felt in lorry parks across Kent.
Sky News has learnt that the Department for Transport has asked one such site, Ashford International Truck Stop that was due to close shortly in favour of a new bigger site next door, to remain open for a few extra months over Christmas.
A sense perhaps that preparations are being made for extra seasonal pressure.
On the other side of the Channel there is another side to this story.
New rules mean Mr Green can no longer export fully-grown market-sized oysters to France
Laurent Merlin fishes for crab from Boulogne sur Mer. He has been fishing in British waters since the 1990s and his father did the same for years before him. But he hasn’t been granted a license yet and he’s getting desperate.
“It’s frustrating because it has now been 10 months that we’ve been waiting,” he said.
“If we get nothing, we will have to react. If we don’t we won’t be able to continue. French waters have been overfished, there are no fish left there.”
Officials will talk again in the coming days and while they’re talking, threats are unlikely to be actioned.
On different sides of these waters there’s different sides to this story, but ongoing disputes are costing.
Henry Birch, the former boss of Rank Group, is among the candidates vying to run Entain, the FTSE-100 owner of Ladbrokes.
Sky News has learnt that Mr Birch is one of a small number of candidates being considered by Entain to replace Jette Nygaard-Andersen as its permanent chief executive.
The recruitment process comes at a challenging time for Entain, which has been beset by boardroom upheaval and regulatory difficulties in various international markets.
Its stock has halved in the last year, leaving it with a market capitalisation of just under £5bn.
This weekend, sources close to the company confirmed that Mr Birch was a serious contender for the post, although they said others were also in contention.
An appointment could still be weeks or even a small number of months away, they added.
Henry Birch, former CEO of Very Group
Mr Birch stepped down as chief executive of Very Group, the online retailer owned by the Barclay family, in 2022.
He is an experienced gambling industry executive, having spent four years as chief executive of William Hill Online prior to joining the London-listed multichannel gaming operator Rank Group.
He has also held roles at Leisure & Gaming plc and BettingCorp.
Under Mr Birch, Very Group broke the £2bn annual sales mark for the first time.
Investors in Entain have been pressing its board to recruit a new chief executive with substantial gambling experience as it grapples with a plunging share price and numerous regulatory and strategic challenges.
Last week, Sky News revealed that former bosses of bookies Coral and Skybet had rejected overtures to become its new boss.
Pic: Reuters
Industry sources said that Dan Taylor, chief executive of Flutter Entertainment’s international operations, had also been approached, although it was unclear whether he was interested.
Entain has been under siege from activist investors for months.
In January, it announced that Ricky Sandler, who runs Entain shareholder Eminence Capital, would join its board as a non-executive director.
Last month, it said that Barry Gibson, its chairman, would retire later this year and be replaced by interim chair, and former acting CEO, Stella David.
Entain has hired bankers to sell PartyPoker and other non-core operations, which the Financial Times reported could include Netherlands-based BetCity, which Entain bought for £398mn last year.
As well as Ladbrokes, Entain owns Coral and a stake in BetMGM, a major US betting player.
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MGM Resorts, the US casino operator behind the Bellagio in Las Vegas, attempted to buy Entain in 2021 but was rebuffed at a much higher valuation than the UK company’s shares trade at now.
MGM has since ruled out a further bid, although analysts expect it to return at some stage.
The company has faced a deluge of regulatory problems, triggering sharp criticism of its governance and business practices.
Last December, it was ordered to pay £615m for failing to prevent bribery at its former Turkish subsidiary under a deferred prosecution agreement.
Shares in Entain closed at 778.8p on Friday, giving the company a market capitalisation of £4.98bn.
Entain declined to comment, while Mr Birch could not be reached for comment.
A privately owned used-car platform is circling Cazoo Group, its stricken US-listed rival which is on the brink of administration.
Sky News has learnt that Motors.co.uk is a leading contender to acquire Cazoo’s marketplace operation, which would include its brand and intellectual property assets.
The process to auction the used-car platform’s constituent parts comes after it spent tens of millions of pounds on sponsorship deals in football, snooker and darts in a rapid attempt to gain market share.
Earlier this week, Cazoo filed a notice of intention to appoint Teneo as administrator, just three years after it floated in New York with a valuation of $8bn.
The filing was intended to provide protection from creditors while Teneo finalises asset sales.
Since an announcement last month about a restructuring of the group, advisers have offloaded a string of assets and unwound Cazoo’s previous operating model to transform it into a marketplace.
Among those have been the disposal of Cazoo’s vehicle fleet, which sources said had been achieved at higher-than-anticipated values, reflecting a current shortage of used cars in the market.
Teneo is also said to have struck a deal with Constellation Automotive, the owner of Cazoo’s rival, Cinch, involving a handful of sites and dozens of jobs.
Meanwhile, several parties are understood to have expressed an interest in Cazoo’s wholesale operation and other vehicle collection sites.
One industry source said the pivot to a platform model had seen its inventory rise to more than 15,000 cars, with Cazoo now the online vehicle marketplace where consumers can buy and sell cars under a single brand.
If, as expected, the group does fall into administration, it would underline the rapid implosion of a company which once ranked among Britain’s hottest technology start-ups.
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Founded by Alex Chesterman, the founder of Zoopla, it raised hundreds of millions of pounds in funding, and rapidly attracted a ‘unicorn’ – or $1bn – valuation.
Mr Chesterman left the business several months ago in the wake of a balance sheet restructuring which saw hundreds of millions of dollars of debt converted to equity.
One insider said the formal triggering of insolvency proceedings was likely to attract wider attention in Cazoo’s assets, including its brand.
It was unclear on Friday how much Motors.co.uk or other suitors for the marketplace were likely to bid for it.
Cazoo founder Alex Chesterman left the business several months ago
A spokesperson for Cazoo said: “Our new marketplace model, where consumers can both buy and sell cars, is revenue generating and performing ahead of expectations with interest from almost 100 car dealers including many household names wishing to trade on the Cazoo platform.
“Cazoo has successfully restructured and significantly reduced the cash burn of the group, resulting in a cash position in excess of £95m at 30th April 2024 compared to £113m at 31st December 2023, and the platform now has approximately 17,000 cars which is more than double the volume we previously supported and demonstrates the scalability of our technology and the strength of the team.
“We are making efforts to secure the next phase of our business and are grateful to our employees for their hard work and commitment.”
Motors.co.uk did not respond to enquiries, while a spokesperson for Cazoo declined to comment on talks about asset sales.
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