Trade deals, Adidas, Twitter, inflation rate: your commercial news round-up

The end of the UK’s Brexit transition period is looming and with a deal still not in place, there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding Brexit and what 2021 might bring. Make sure you stay up to date with the news from the business and legal worlds, and don’t forget to read LCN’s guide to the 19 commercial issues from 2020 that you should know about. For now, though, here’s this week’s round-up.

• Despite claims of progress, a no-deal Brexit is still the “most likely” outcome of EU trade talks, according to Number 10. Meanwhile, a continuity trade deal with Mexico has been signed by the UK. This agreement means that the two countries will continue to trade under the EU-Mexico trade deal to ensure that trade is not disrupted following the end of the UK’s Brexit transition period. Negotiations between the UK and Mexico are set to take place to secure a new trade agreement next year, with the current trade partnership between the sides worth £5 billion. In early 2021, the UK will apply to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), of which countries including Mexico, Australia and Singapore are members. Rollover trade deals have now been signed between a number of non-EU countries and the UK.

Model railway maker Hornby, which makes (among other things) Scalextric racing kits, paused all international orders until January 2021 “due to the uncertainty surrounding Brexit”. 

• German sportswear giant Adidas has announced that it is considering selling its Reebok brand, with a final decision set to be made in March 2021. Adidas bought Reebok in 2006 in a deal worth £2.85 billion. Private equity firm and owner of Dr Martens Permira and Timberland brand owner VF Corp are among the potential buyers. Meanwhile, British retailer JD Sports agrees to buy California-based sportswear brand Shoe Palace in an all-cash deal worth £243.7 million that will widen its US footprint in the West Coast.

• The Data Protection Commission in Ireland has fined Twitter £400,000 for breaking Europe’s GDPR data privacy rules, after ruling that it had failed to notify the EU regulator within 72 hours following a data breach in 2019. Twitter also failed to sufficiently document the breach. Damien Kieran, the firm’s chief privacy officer and global protection officer said: "We respect the IDPC's decision, which relates to a failure in our incident response process”.

• Recent figures indicate that the UK’s inflation rate dropped to 0.3% in November, a 0.4% decline from October’s rate. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that lower prices for clothing, food and non-alcoholic drinks were the biggest contributors to the fall, with an increase in prices for games, toys and hobbies balancing out those declines. According to the ONS, the usual fluctuation in prices has changed as a result of the pandemic.

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