If the consolidation of consolidators mooted for the advice space happens, it will unlikely be a “dramatic shift” in the market, NextWealth consulting director Emma Napier has suggested.

Napier told Money Marketing she believes consolidation of consolidators could happen, but it is not going to be a “great big turn” for the industry.

“It comes down to the process that a consolidator has managed to embed,” she said. “The consolidation of consolidators will only occur if the seller finds the process [of buying small advice firms] too slow and needs to recapitalise, and the buyer can quickly see a clear route to market.

“This is more likely if most of the work is already done, there’s a proven model, it makes sense to proceed, and the buyer still has cash available.

“It’s more about the availability of capital rather than the market shrinking because consolidators are buying other consolidators.”

She pointed out that the same thing happened with platforms about five to 10 years ago.

“While a few consolidated and rebranded, the big consolidation never really occurred,” she added.

Behind the Headlines: FCA consolidation review is a ‘wake-up call’ for buyers and sellers

“I think we’ll see a similar situation with consolidators. From a business perspective, if it makes sense, it shouldn’t be a surprise.”

The Financial Conduct Authority has set its sights on the consolidator model and, earlier this week, said it would launch a review of consolidation in the advice space.

“It’s an area of the market that they should be looking at, not because there are concerns, but there has been a huge shift in the dynamics of the industry itself and how it’s chopped up,” said Napier.

“If those shapes of sections of the industry are changing, then [the FCA] should be aware of it, and also the dynamics and the intentions behind it.”

She said that last year, there was a “definite shift” in the number of firms being acquired by the acquirers.

“If I was a regulator, I’d want to know how those dynamics are working.”

Napier added: “If you’re a consolidator, it doesn’t matter who you’re consolidating and what your proposition is, you’ve got to integrate the tech and the people with a focus on the end customer.

“It can be a minefield in all sorts of businesses. Some people are good at it, some people have nailed it, and some people are still struggling with it.”

THE long-delayed European Entry/Exit System that was set to come into force next month has been quietly postponed.

At the end of August, the EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson confirmed the new Entry/Exit System (EES) would come into force on November 10, 2024.

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However, one month before the new rules were set to be introduced they were quietly delayed.

According to Reuters, Ylva Johansson made the following statement following a meeting of European ministers: “November 10 is no longer on the table”.

Following the announcement, Johansson told the BBC: “It’s clear that we’re not going to be ready for the 10 November.

“We will be going for a phased approach, step by step.”

A phased introduction of the new EES is now being discussed by officials who will meet in the coming weeks to hash out details.

A report from the Justice and Home Affairs Council, which was published on October 10, 2024, reads: “To ensure a smooth transition, the Commission outlined plans to roll out the EES in a phased manner. The details of this approach will be established in the coming weeks.”

The news comes days after easyJet boss revealed UK travellers could risk being stuck on planes after arriving at European airports once enhanced border checks are introduced.

In an interview at the annual convention of travel trade organisation Abta in Costa Navarino, Greece, Mr Lundgren said it is possible EES will cause airport terminals to be congested with arriving passengers waiting to be processed, leaving no room for additional travellers.

“In the worst case you actually can’t disembark, you hold people on the plane,” Mr Lundgren warned.

He said: “We have to think about what can actually happen.”

Mr Lundgren predicted “there will be some disruption” from EES as “it is a new procedure”.

Earlier this year, France, Germany and The Netherlands wrote to Ylva Johansson saying they wouldn’t be ready by the November deadline.

It is not yet known when EES will come into force.

However, a source told the Independent: “It will almost certainly be well into 2025 before there is any chance of it having a significant effect on British travellers.”

When the border checks do come into force, it’s feared that EES could cause huge delays at the border due to the extra checks needed.

The new system will replace the need to wet stamp passports but other checks will be required.

November 10 is no longer on the table

Passports will need to be scanned and passengers will need to have their fingerprints scanned and photos taken.

Delays are expected at the UK-France borders where queues could reach 14 hours at some ferry ports.

Tim Reardon, head of EU exit for the Dover Harbour Board previously warned last year: “There is no way of doing a biometric control without getting everyone out of the vehicle.

“That’s the one thing on our site which cannot happen because you’re in the middle of live traffic.”

And Neil Baker, Kent County Council’s cabinet member for roads said it could cause a “serious mess”.

He told fellow cabinet members on January 4: “I don’t think we can downplay how big of an impact it could well have on Kent and over an extended period.”

Holidaymakers have previously been warned to travel with “extra supplies” such as food, water and nappies in case of the huge queues when the checks are introduced in November.

The Sun’s Head of Travel explains what the EES means for you

The Sun’s Head of Travel Lisa Minot has explained everything you need to know about the upcoming EES.

JUST one month before the start of the EU’s new Entry Exit System, the entire launch has been delayed yet again.

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Originally due to roll out in 2021, we are now told it will happen in phases with absolutely no specific timeline. 

Many millions of pounds has been spent by the likes of Eurostar and Eurotunnel plus the Port of Dover in preparing for the imminent launch. Airports across Europe have had to invest heavily in new equipment and re-configure passport halls.

Now yet again, new processing areas will be moth-balled. It will be a source of huge frustration to the travel industry as a whole.

Talking to easyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren this week, he was adamant the system should never be launched until a pre-registration system was up and running.

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 An app is being developed to capture the data required by the Entry Exit System – facial biometrics and fingerprints – so it will take less time at busy borders with confined space.

But the European Commission had already confirmed this would not be ready for the proposed November launch.

And the easyJet CEO is right – without the means of allowing people to provide their information in advance, anyone connected with the new system could see that the time it would take to collect all the details would cause major delays.

While UK travellers will no doubt be relieved the system won’t launch until later in 2025, the chaos caused by the continual delays does nothing to engender confidence.

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Other European governments have expressed their concerns too – Slovenia said it would take “four times longer” to process passengers, while Austrian authorities said it would be at least “double compared to the current situation”.

EES was meant to be introduced back in 2022.

The new border checks were then rescheduled for May 2023 and then late 2023, before the latest deadline was set.

Sun Online Travel have contacted the EU Home Affairs Commission for comment.

The new ETIAS system is also to be introduced, although this isn’t until next year.

ETIAS, a visa-waiver, will require all Brits to pay €7 when visiting Europe, and will last three years.

An official start date in 2025 is yet to be revealed

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Stuff continues to happen in the process to buy Britain’s Daily Telegraph, with the leading candidate to buy the newspaper, New York Sun publisher Dovid Efune, the type of person who tweets thing like “Blessed be the Israeli Air Force pilots”.

As MainFT’s Dan Thomas reported earlier this week:

Staff [think Efune is] likely to be a much more outspoken — and potentially divisive — owner than the media-shy Barclay family.

God forbid the Telegraph should become outspoken—

—ah.

Realistically, there’s a decent chance that Efune’s overture fizzles out, and other interested parties might return at the prospect of a lower price. For now, as one person close to the discussions told us, Efune “is in exclusive talks to begin exclusive talks”.

Here’s how that goes, from mainFT again:

During the period of exclusivity, Efune will be under pressure to reveal more about his plans for the title. He is in talks with US funds including Oaktree Capital Management to back his offer, according to people with knowledge of the discussions, while LionTree, which typically invests in such deals with its own funds, is advising him.

We would assume the discussions involved will also include the title revealing more about itself.

As we reported in early August last year, Telegraph Media Group — facing stalling paying subscriber numbers — made a bolt-on acquisition of The Chelsea Magazine Company, in an apparent bid to pump its total subscription count to 1mn.

Just days later, the Telegraph announced that target had been reached, ahead of the end-of-2023 deadline, and in time for since-defenestrated chief executive officer Nick Hugh to presumably collect a nice performance-linked bonus. (A parallel target to reached 10mn registrants appears to have been quietly ditched at some point.)

Much of the achievement was down to CMC readers — who were suddenly included in a Telegraph-branded growth KPI — and free users, both of which are worth far less per head than a digital Tel reader, and far far less than a print one:

Here’s the chart we made back then, updated to include the latest available figures:

Mushy. And made mushier still by weird sentences in the methodology such as this, about how CMC subscriptions are counted:

A subscriber can hold more than one subscription; e.g. if a subscriber has a subscription to two different publications, they will count as two.

Hugh’s replacement Anna Jones obviously has a tough job — effectively managing a paper that is in stasis until it has a new owner.

But one apparent business shift under her has been a move away from transparency. The Hugh era was marked by an admirable willingness to share these figures — albeit one that wavered towards the end, as reporting of subscriber numbers shifted from monthly to quarterly.

Post Jones? Not a peep. The company hasn’t published new numbers since January 18th, despite our polite prodding.

A spokesperson said the numbers are “currently linked with the ongoing sales process of TMG”. We have repeatedly asked, to no avail, whether the publication scheme will return.

We did get one useful nugget though. They told us:

As we look ahead, we continue to invest in our audiences and evolve our products, specifically across audio and the app, to best serve our dedicated subscribers and secure continued growth through 2024 and beyond. Our aim is to reach more paying readers than any other time in our history, with a medium term goal of reaching 2 million subscriptions.

Two million? Presumably, such goals have very little prospect of surviving the takeover, but — depending on what “medium term” means — presumably scenes at 111 Buckingham Palace road are something like this:

Further reading:
— How the Telegraph made its million

A HOST of fashion labels have changed their returns policy so customers subscribing to their premium service must pay for returns.

Debenhams, Dorothy Perkins, Oasis, Coast and Warehouse – which are all part of the same group and share the same “Unlimited” delivery service – used to offer members free returns, but since June charge £1.99 per order.

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Unlimited membership, which costs £14.99 a year, gives customers access to next day deliveries for all the brands named above, plus Burton, Misspap and Wallis .

The change has outraged subscribers, who were taken by surprise when they found out about the fee.

One shopper who took to the Trustpilot site to comment on Dorothy Perkins’ service said: “Since when have you started charging Delivery Pass customers £1.99 to return items?

“If you have started to charge for returns then I certainly will not be renewing my pass with you.”

Another added: “Regular customer for many years now and on unlimited subscription.

“Had to return a size 12 dress more like a size 18 only to be told 1.99 for returns label. 

“Will not be buying again, waste of money.”

Another Warehouse Unlimited customer complained of being charged £1.99, even though this fee was not in place when he had subscribed.

Karen Millen – another brand owned by the Boohoo Group – has similarly changed its Premier service so that members, who pay £14.99 a year, must pay £2 per return.

However, according to the terms and conditions, those who purchased Premier unlimited delivery before June 3 will continue to receive free returns until their subscriptions end. 

Any new Premier customers from June 3 will be charged £2 for returns.

But, for subscribers to Debenhams Unlimited and all of the brands under that label, the fee has come into effect immediately.

Sun Online revealed in September how members of Boohoo Premier – another premium delivery service operated by the Boohoo Group – were also told to pay £1.99 per return, but it has since reneged and made them free again.

Louise Deglise-Favre, retail analyst at GlobalData, said the introduction of returns fees was likely done to boost its profits, leaving some feeling cheated.

She added: “The group has been experiencing major issues in the past couple of years, unable to compete with new competitors such as Shein in terms of agility and breadth of choice.

“Besides, the group bought the majority of the brands mentioned here during the height of its success throughout the pandemic.

“However, these brands were already experiencing difficulties and the boohoo Group likely has not been able to turn their favours around despite a change in branding and product offering.”

The Boohoo Group did not comment.

STORE RETURN CHARGES

PrettyLittleThing recently implemented a charge of £1.99 per item returned.

In February, River Island angered customers by introducing a £2 charge to return items ordered online.

The retailer also said it would ban some customer accounts if they made too many returns.

The charge is deducted from the total amount refunded after the customer has posted back the items.

And H&M brought in a £1.99 fee in September last year.

Before that Boohoo also began the practise in July 2022, but it continues to offer free returns for its “premier” customers.

In May 2022, fashion chain Zara introduced a fee for those looking to bring back parcels, it now charges £1.95 for the service.

Next gives customers 14 days to return their orders, but still charges £2.50 to take them back.

A host of retailers including Mountain Warehouse, THG and Moss Bros have also added a charge for shoppers to return items bought online.

Companies have started to charge for returns as the costs of shipping have risen.

The cost of processing is also higher.

Retailers with stores can make it easier for consumers to return goods for free as they can be dropped off in a store, which saves the shipping charges.

“Russian forces only managed to take control of the city after hundreds of daily attempts to break through Ukrainian defenses. Despite their claims of a strategic victory, the reality is that even with a clear advantage in personnel, artillery, and air power, it took Russia two years to capture a city they’ve completely destroyed,” she stressed, as reported by United24 Media.

In the past week, according to Kostenko, there were over 1,000 clashes between Ukrainian forces and the Russian army, with the overall situation on the front lines remaining highly tense and fluid.

“Over the last week, Ukrainian forces have continued to target and neutralize Russian military headquarters, logistical routes, and ammunition depots. Ukrainian troops successfully destroyed the command centers of Russia’s 35th and 27th motorized rifle brigades, as well as the command post of the 2nd Combined Arms Army of the Russian Federation,” she added.

British intelligence had previously reported significant Russian casualties, estimating that Russia could lose up to 1,000 soldiers per day during the winter months.