Why cheese, fish and flowers could all soon cost more because of new Brexit rules

Published

1 year ago

January 26, 2024

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New Brexit border controls will leave British consumers and businesses facing more than £500m in increased costs and possible delays – as well as shortages of food and fresh flowers imported from the European Union.

The new rules are intended to protect biosecurity by imposing controls on plant and animal products considered a “medium” risk. These include five categories of cut flowers, cheese and other dairy produce, chilled and frozen meat, and fish.

From 31 January, each shipment will have to be accompanied by a health certificate, provided by a local vet in the case of animal produce, and, from 30 April, shipments will be subject to physical checks at the British border.

The government’s modelling says the new controls will cost industry £330m, while the grocery industry has warned that £200m could be added to fresh fruit and vegetable prices should checks be introduced in the future.

There is also the prospect of delays caused by inspections of faulty paperwork, which could derail supply chains that rely entirely on fast turnaround of goods.

British importers have told Sky News that the new rules, which have already been delayed five times in three years, will add up to 17% to shipping costs, leading to higher prices for consumers.

European companies and industry groups say the controls are unnecessary as they replicate checks already made in the EU, and that Brexit is adding bureaucracy and cost to dealing with the UK.

The new import controls are a consequence of Britain having left both the single market and the customs union when the trade and co-operation deal with the EU came into force in January 2021.

While UK exporters to Europe were immediately subject to customs rules, the British government waived import controls to avoid damaging the economy and food supply.

On five occasions since 2021 ministers planned and then cancelled their introduction, in part because of fears that interrupting food supplies from the EU would exacerbate the cost of living crisis.

Almost 80% of UK vegetable imports and 40% of fruit comes from Europe.

In the Netherlands, the horticulture industry has called for a further delay to controls that will impact its £1bn-a-year trade with the UK, the second largest in Europe behind Germany, which accounts for around 90% of our cut flower and plant imports.

‘We’re going back in time’

Dutch flower wholesaler Heemskerk has been exporting to the UK since before it joined the common market.

The UK now requires that five types of flowers, including orchids and carnations, be checked in factories by a local inspector for two species of leaf mites that destroy foliage.

Managing director Nick van Bommel points out that the checks replicate the same processes made at the Dutch border if the plants are imported to Europe, and by his staff for trade within the EU.

“We’re going back in time. They want to have health inspections that we haven’t carried out for more than thirty years, and now from next week on we start again,” he said.

“It won’t help anybody, but it will make an awful lot of costs and somebody has to pay the bill at the end. I’m 100% sure that the last customer, the British consumer, has to pay for this.”

The Dutch association of floriculture wholesalers has asked the British government to delay the changes by another year.

Its spokesperson Tim Rozendaal told Sky News: “If Brexit was about cutting down Brussels’s red tape and bringing down costs, I don’t see the point.

“Anything that our industry has been facing since Brexit is longer red tape, additional costs and bureaucracy.”

At New Covent Garden Market in London, which receives shipments from the Netherlands within hours of flowers being cut, wholesalers are equally sceptical.

Freddie Heathcote, owner of Green & Bloom, calculates his shipping costs will rise by up to 17% – and the knock-on to consumers could be increases of 20% to 50% once the physical inspection regime is in place.

“We have been told the charge for consignments crossing at Dover or Folkestone will be £20 to £43 per category item listed on the consignment.

“We imported 28 different consignment lines tonight from one supplier, which would be £560 to £1,204 to clear the border control point on a total invoice of £7,000. That’s between 8% and 17% additional cost on an average import for us.”

The food industry is concerned too.

Patricia Michelson, founder of London cheese chain La Fromagerie, has been importing artisan cheese from across Europe for more than 40 years. She is concerned that the cost and hassle of sourcing veterinary checks in Europe will dissuade some suppliers.

“We deal with suppliers who are one or two guys in a dairy with 50 or 100 sheep or 20 cows. Do they want to be paying for this new certificate to send to us?

“I assure you that most of them will say no. So the onus is on us… that means another extra cost, on top of all the costs so far to bring the produce in.”

‘Disturbing confusion’

After months of preparation this week the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs added a host of common fruit and vegetables to the list of medium risk produce.

It initially said the produce would only face physical checks from October, but 48 hours later changed the rules again, saying they would give three months notice when health declarations and physical checks are required.

The late change attracted criticism from leading trade body the Institute of Export and International Trade.

“The confusion caused by the announcement… is disturbing, particularly at a point when significant changes are being planned for the general operation of the UK border,” said its general secretary Marco Forgione.

A government spokesman said: “We are committed to delivering the most advanced border in the world. The Border Target Operating Model is key to delivering this, protecting the UK’s biosecurity from potentially harmful pests and diseases and maintaining trust in our exports.

“We are taking a phased approach – including initially not requiring pre-notification and inspections for EU medium risk fruit and vegetables and other medium risk goods – to support businesses and ensure the efficient trade is maintained between the EU and Great Britain.”

Business

Concierge firm founded by Queen’s nephew hunts buyer

Published

1 day ago

May 17, 2025

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Concierge firm founded by Queen's nephew hunts buyer

Quintessentially, the luxury concierge service founded by the Queen’s nephew, is in talks to find a buyer months after it warned of “material uncertainty” over its future.

Sky News has learned that the company, which was set up by Sir Ben Elliot and his business partners in 1999, is working with advisers on a process aimed at finding a new owner or investors.

City sources said this weekend that Quintessentially was already in discussions with prospective buyers and was anticipating receipt of a number of firm offers.

Sir Ben, the former Conservative Party co-chairman under Boris Johnson, owns a significant minority stake in the company.

The Quintessentially group operates a number of businesses, although its core activity remains the provision of lifestyle support to high net worth individuals including celebrities, royalty, and leading businesspeople.

It also counts major companies among its clients and offers services such as organising private jet flights and performances by top musicians.

The sale process is being overseen by a firm called Beyond, although further details, including the price that the business might fetch, were unclear on Saturday.

One insider said parties who had been contacted by Beyond were being offered the option to buy a controlling interest in Quintessentially.

This could be implemented through a combination of the repayment of outstanding loans, an injection of new funding into the business, and the purchase of existing shareholders’ interests, they added.

Quintessentially’s founders, including Sir Ben, are thought to be keen to retain an equity interest in the company after any deal.

In January 2022, newspaper reports suggested that Quintessentially had been put up for sale with a valuation of £140m.

Deloitte, the accountancy firm, was charged with finding a buyer at the time but a transaction failed to materialise.

Sir Ben, who was knighted in Mr Johnson’s resignation honours list, turned to one of Quintessentially’s shareholders for financial support during the pandemic.

World Fuel Services, an energy and aviation services company, is owed £15.5m as well as £3.5m in accrued interest, according to one person close to the process.

The loan is said to include a warrant to convert it into equity upon repayment.

Quintessentially does not disclose the number or identities of many of its clients, although it said in annual accounts filed at Companies House in January that it had increased turnover to £29.6m in the year to 30 April 2024.

The accounts suggested the company was seeing growth in demand from clients internationally.

“During the last year, we have not only renewed important corporate contracts like Mastercard, but have also expanded by adding new corporate clients like Swiss4 in the UK, R360 in India, and Visa in the Middle East and South America,” they said.

In its experiences and events division, it won a contract to work with the Red Sea Film Festival and to provide corporate concierge services to the Saudi Premier League.

It added that Allianz, the German insurer, BMW, and South African lender Standard Bank were among other clients with which it had signed contracts.

The accounts included the warning of a “risk that the pace and level at which business returns could be materially less than forecast, requiring the group and company to obtain external funding which may not be forthcoming and therefore this creates material uncertainty that may cast ultimately cast doubt about the … ability to continue as a going concern”.

This weekend, a Quintessentially spokesman declined to comment on the sale process.

Business

Superstar Adele joins backers of music royalties platform Audoo

Published

2 days ago

May 16, 2025

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Superstar Adele joins backers of music royalties platform Audoo

Adele, the Grammy award-winning artist, has joined the list of music superstars investing in Audoo, a music technology company which helps artists to receive fairer royalty payments.

Sky News has learnt that the British musician and Adam Clayton, the U2 bassist, have injected money into Audoo as part of a £7m funding round.

The pair join Sir Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney and ABBA’s Bjorn Ulvaeus as shareholders in the company.

Changes to Audoo’s share register were filed at Companies House in recent days.

Audoo, which was established by former musician Ryan Edwards, is trying to address the perennial issue of public performance royalties, in order to ensure musicians are rewarded when their work is played in public venues.

Mr Edwards is reported to have been motivated to set up the company after hearing his own music played at football stadia and in bars, without any payment for it.

Estimates suggest that artists lose out on billions of dollars of unaccounted royalties each year.

London-based Audoo uses a monitoring device – which it calls an Audio Meter – to recognise songs played in public venues, and which is said to have a 99% success rate.

It has struck what it describes as industry-first partnerships with organisations including the music licensing company PPL/PRS to track and report songs played in public performance locations such as cafes, hair salons, shops and gyms.

“At Audoo, we’re incredibly proud of the continued support we’re receiving as we work to make music royalties fairer and more transparent for artists and rights-holders around the world through our pioneering technology,” Mr Edwards told Sky News in a statement on Friday.

“We have successfully reached £7m in our latest funding round.

“This funding marks a pivotal moment for Audoo as we focus on our growth in North America and across Europe, bringing us closer to our mission of revolutionising the global royalty landscape.”

Sources said the new capital would be used partly to finance Audoo’s growth in the US.

The latest funding round takes the total amount of money raised by the company since its launch to more than $30m.

Mr Edwards has spoken of his desire to establish a major presence in Europe and the US because of their status as the world’s biggest recorded music markets.

Adele’s management company did not respond to an enquiry from Sky News.

Business

The Sunday Times Rich List: Billionaires fall as King rises to match Rishi Sunak

Published

2 days ago

May 16, 2025

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The Sunday Times Rich List: Billionaires fall as King rises to match Rishi Sunak

The King’s personal fortune has shot up by £30m to put him on par with Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty, while the overall number of billionaires in the UK has plummeted, according to The Sunday Times Rich List.

The 2025 list, published on Friday, shows the King’s personal wealth grew from £610m to £640m, taking him up 20 places to 258 – level with former prime minister Mr Sunak and his wife.

The number of overall UK billionaires has fallen to 156 from 165 in 2024, marking the biggest drop since the rich list began 37 years ago.

Gopi Hinduja and his family, behind the Indian conglomerate Hinduja Group, topped the list for the fourth year running with £35.3bn.

Meanwhile, founder and chairman of global chemicals company Ineos Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who became part owner of Manchester United last year, dropped from fourth place to seventh after his reported wealth went from £23.5bn to £17.05bn.

Sir Jim’s £6.47bn losses marked the biggest on the list, while Russian-born brothers Igor and Dmitry Bukhman, who built a fortune on mobile games such as Gardenscapes and Fishdom, made the biggest gains with nearly £6.2bn.

New entries included makeup mogul Charlotte Tilbury with £350m and Ellen DeGeneres, who left the US for the Cotswolds last year.

The Sunday Times said the list was one of its toughest to compile due to Donald Trump’s tariffs and the subsequent stock market turbulence, adding many from previous years had dropped off the list and others were no longer eligible having fled Britain after Labour’s non-dom crackdown.

Overall, the combined wealth of those on the list stood at £772.8bn – down 3% from the last list.

Speaking to Anna Jones on Sky News Breakfast, Rich List compiler Rob Watts highlighted the story of Tom and Phil Beahon, who own sportswear clothing brand Castore which is now worth £1bn, as one of his favourites.

The brothers from Wirral have debuted at joint 345 on the list with an estimated wealth of £350m.

Calling their story “inspiring”, Mr Watts said: “They dreamed of being sportsmen as lads – one of them got onto the books of Tranmere Rovers and the other played cricket for Lancashire, but their sporting careers were over in their early 20s.

“And they say that failure was critical to driving them to create this £1bn sports kit business that you’ll now see being worn by the England cricket team and the England rugby team.”