Your commercial news round-up: Peloton, HarperCollins, Paris-based UK solicitors

There are various ways that you can keep on top of your commercial awareness, including listening to reputable podcasts, checking LCN’s Commercial Question section to see what leading firms are thinking about and regularly reading this commercial news round-up. Finding a news story that genuinely interests you will support your commercial awareness development as it will feel like less of a chore to stay on top of the updates. There are a few interesting ones in this week’s round-up that might pique your commercial awareness strings.

• Peloton has initiated a product recall involving its Tread+ machines in the US, following various injury reports, including broken bones and cuts, and one death of a six-year-old child. UK consumers have been warned to stop using the Peloton Tread, which is advertised online from £2,295 or £59 a month, in light of these reports. Earlier this year Peloton described a warning against the use of its Tread+ treadmill if consumers had children or pets as “inaccurate and misleading” but boss of the exercise equipment company John Foley has since apologised and recalled the Tread+ and the Tread in the US. Following a rise in demand during the pandemic, shares in the company recently fell by as much as 14%.

• Lawsuits have been filed against publishing giant HarperCollins in relation to Catherine Belton’s Putin’s People – a book it published in 2020 about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rise to power, which the publisher described as an “authoritative, important and conscientiously sourced work”. Mikhail Fridman, banking, retail and telecoms tycoon, and Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea football club, were among other Russian billionaires to file lawsuits against the publisher. Abramovich has claimed that the book includes “false and defamatory” statements about him. HarperCollins will continue to “robustly defend this acclaimed groundbreaking book and the right to report on matters of considerable public interest”.
   
• The French authorities – the National Council of French Bar Associations and the French government – have confirmed that Paris-based UK solicitors are eligible for ‘foreign legal consultant status’ under the EU-UK Trade and Corporation Agreement and can continue to advise on English and international law, following months of negotiations as a result of Brexit. Law Society President I. Stephanie Boyce said: “The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement was instrumental in securing this outcome, as third country lawyers are only eligible for foreign legal consultant status in France if there is a trade deal covering legal services between their country of origin and the EU.”

• Meanwhile, the UK may not receive consent to join the 2007 Lugano Convention after the EU Commission recommended that the “European Union should not give its consent to access of the United Kingdom”. The EU Commission added that: “The United Kingdom is a third country without a special link to the internal market. Therefore, there is no reason for the European Union to depart from its general approach in relation to the United Kingdom.

“Consequently, the Hague Conventions should provide the framework for future cooperation between the European Union and the United Kingdom in the field of civil judicial cooperation.”

• All remaining physical Debenhams stores will be closed by 15 May as its high-street days come to an end after more than 200 years, the retailer has announced; however, the brand will continue to be sold online after being bought by Boohoo for £55 million at the start of the year. By 8 May 52 stores will be closed, with the remaining 49 due to shut by the later date. As a result, 12,000 employees will lose their jobs.
  
  Meanwhile, Pep&Co, Poundland’s clothing brand is set to launch an initial public offering (IPO) on the Warsaw Stock Exchange market, after it was valued at between £4.1 and £5 billion. The IPO is made up of more than 102 million existing shares, which represents just under 18% of the company’s issued share capital at admission.

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