Next says Middle East conflict could raise clothing prices by up to 10%

The boss of Next has said clothing prices could rise by 4% to 10% if conflict in the Middle East extends into the autumn and factories are hit by higher fuel and fabric costs.Simon Wolfson said the clothing and home retailer had so far seen little disruption to its supply chain.While container ships are being delayed by up to two weeks as they travel slowly to save fuel, he said the company already held enough spare stock to prevent gaps on shelves.He said these costs could amount to £15m if the conflict lasts three months and prices could begin to rise by about 1% from June or July if disruption dragged on until then.Lord Wolfson added that Next was offsetting additional costs on fuel and air freight with savings elsewhere and it did not expect any effect on profits for the year ahead

There are solutions to Britain’s energy crisis | Letters

The Iran war has exposed the cost of successive governments’ fixation on short-term, vote-winning policies, leaving Britain increasingly vulnerable to strategic coercion, particularly in energy (The UK sleepwalked into this energy price shock, 23 March).British companies currently lead a new, technologically proven, job-creating industry which, had it been supported earlier, would have strengthened security of supply and reduced costs. It is tidal stream energy.Britain has about 50% of Europe’s tidal resources, all within our territorial waters and flowing at different times. It is predictable, inexhaustible and can be operational within three years of consent, independent of global energy prices and weather variability

Two salon owners wanted to go zero-waste. Could they do it and keep their business afloat?

Scisters Salon & Apothecary in the San Diego area is committed to sustainable beauty and going low-wasteThe first thing you notice when you walk into Scisters Salon & Apothecary is what isn’t there. No wall of glossy plastic bottles promising “repair” or “shine”. No sharp chemical tang or aerosol haze. The only trash can is a tiny basket that mostly collects coffee cups and gum wrappers clients bring from home.Instead, the shelves of this southern California salon are lined with large refill containers of shampoo and conditioner, houseplants dot the space, hair clippings are swept away for compost, and the air carries a trace of bergamot and vanilla

Ministers vow to spend record £8.4bn on road maintenance in England

Ministers have pledged to spend record amounts on road maintenance as part of a £27bn five-year investment plan for England’s major roads and motorways.The government said it was aiming to “fix the foundations” with almost a third, £8.4bn, of the spending going on maintenance, including resurfacing a quarter of England’s strategic road network.However, campaigners said the plan – the government’s third road investment strategy, known as RIS3 – was still building needless new roads, with funding approved for 16 schemes.That includes £1

Ticketmaster quietly raised other fees after US crackdown on hidden charges

Following a wave of regulations banning the surprise fees that appear at the end of a transaction, Ticketmaster stopped charging the extra few dollars it added to each order at checkout. Typically shared with the venue, the order processing fee was a boon to a global platform that sells hundreds of millions of tickets a year.But documents obtained by the Guardian show that while Ticketmaster eliminated this fee to comply with the rules, the company simply raised the cost of different fees in a number of its venues to ensure it didn’t lose money.“To account for the loss of order processing revenue, we must adjust fees to offset the revenue loss,” Ticketmaster wrote in an email to the Findlay Toyota Center in Arizona last year. The venue eliminated a $6 order processing fee, but raised the service fee on each ticket by $2 instead

Co-op boss quits after year marked by cyber-attack and claims of ‘toxic’ culture

The Co-op Group has announced that its chief executive will step down this weekend after a difficult year that included a cyber-attack and recent claims of a “toxic” culture at the business.Shirine Khoury-Haq will depart on 29 March and Kate Allum, a board member and former boss of the dairy group First Milk, will step in as interim boss while a permanent replacement is sought.News of the exit came as the company, which owns more than 800 funeral parlours and an insurance and legal advisory business, as well as operating more than 2,000 convenience stores, dived to an underlying loss of £125m.The drop from a £45m profit the year before came after it took a £107m profits hit from the damaging IT hack, which forced it to shut down some systems.On Thursday, Khoury-Haq denied that her resignation was linked to the allegations of a toxic culture