Argos vows to fight price-fixing fines
Retailers Argos and Littlewoods vowed today to continue their fight against record fines for fixing the price of toys and games after an appeal in the UK found the penalties were fair.
Although the Competition Appeal Tribunal reduced the fines slightly, it concluded that they were still “reasonable” and “proportionate”.
The pair had appealed against a judgment by the UK Office of Fair Trading (OFT) two years ago that they agreed with toy giant Hasbro not to discount the price of its products.
Today’s ruling brought Argos’s fine down from £17.28m (€25.6m) to £15m (€22.2m) and lowered Littlewoods’ penalty from £5.37m (€7.9m) to £4.5m (€6.7m).
OFT chairman Sir John Vickers said: “Today’s ruling confirms the gravity of price-fixing and that serious penalties providing deterrence are right and fair.”
Argos owner GUS said it was disappointed with the ruling and did not believe the OFT had proved its case.
It said: “Argos continues to maintain vigorously its innocence and will be seeking leave to appeal against what we believe to be an unfair decision.”
