RE: what if?12 Sep 2020 10:17
While nobody agrees with the underpaid workers issue I ultimately believe it is the responsibility of the government to enforce law on the employer. An analogy I like to think of is BMW. A typical BMW had 30,000 parts from hundreds of suppliers. Should BMW be held accountable if Pirelli tyres are found to be underpaying workers? A producer of a product cannot be held accountable for the employment policies of their suppliers. The issue is of course if BMW knew Pirelli did this should they switch to another tyre provider? So there is a question did they do enough due diligence & press will jump on that, but ultimately the employment law of paying a minimum wage is enforced by the government on the employer. If Pirelli in this case was found to be underpaying, all car manufacturers would drop them; as has happened with these factories, but why single out one retailer who uses them? I don’t think it will put off customers but as the press like cheap negative press it could put ethical questions on fund managers. If funds pull out then yes there will be a drop like before. If they manage the PR correctly they could spin this into a cleanup message that the industry as a whole has ignored for decades. Hopefully everybody is wise to what’s going on & Boohoo have been unfairly used as the poster child of an issue that many have buried their heads in the sand for decades. As an investor, revenue is revenue, growth is growth & profit is profit. It will all be about the execution here.