● Barratt’s £2.5bn takeover of Redrow is good news for the two housebuilders, says Nils Pratley in The Guardian. They can make cost savings, merge supply chains, and grow their land portfolios. But this just looks like two firms “coming together to get through a slow trading period by reaping some savings and waiting to see whether sales pick up”. Any potential “wider benefits are hard to spot”. The real test is whether the deal increases the supply of new homes. And in this respect Barratt’s promise that it will create the potential to quicken the pace of building to more than 22,000 homes a year in the medium term seems “gloriously loose”. The Competition and Markets Authority should have a “poke around the rafters” of this deal.
● Struggling luxury-goods behemoth Kering is right to focus on its flagship brand Gucci, but a “longed-for revival remains some way off”, says Andrea Felsted on Bloomberg. Gucci’s sales fell by an annual 4% in the fourth quarter of 2023. Outlandish designs under former creative director Alessandro Michele became unpopular, and analysts wonder whether the designs of his successor, Sabato de Sarno, are distinctive enough. Gucci needs to attract more high-end customers by limiting the availability of some products and improving its leather goods. It is investing in the supply chain, advertising and events, and updating stores, but it is “extremely difficult” to reposition a brand to become more upmarket a
