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Joe Wykes, chief executive of Jollyes, said he saw the need for employers’ national insurance and the minimum wage to rise – despite costing his firm around £1.5million a year
The boss of Britain’s second biggest pet shop chain has bucked the trend and backed Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ business tax hikes.
Joe Wykes, chief executive of Jollyes, said he saw the need for employers’ national insurance and the minimum wage to rise – despite costing his firm around £1.5million a year. And he had a pop at other retailers, warning some would use it as an “excuse” to increase prices and cut jobs, with some potentially “profiteering”.
The Chancellor’s announcement in last month’s Budget that employers’ national insurance would increase next April to help tackle a £22billion black hole in the public finances left by the Tories has been met with an avalanche of opposition from the business world.
A number of big retailers, and others, have warned they will have no choice but to pass the cost on. But Mr Wykes says it will not impact its prices, job numbers, or plans to open a wave of new stores across the country. Jollyes, owned by the same private firm as supermarket giant Asda, has 107 stores and is the number two pet chain behind Pets at Home. It has a target to reach 250 branches, with more than dozen more planned next year.
Mr Wykes admitted the £1.5million impact will be a “significant amount of our annual profit.” But he added: “I feel the government has laid down the gauntlet, it is a challenge for us to grow. My intention is to continue to invest on our people, to continue to open stores, and allow my competition to inflate their prices. And if we’re clever about it – and that is the challenge – we can accentuate the difference on value that we offer, say, versus Pets at Home. We will continue to grow and claw back profit because of our volume growth.”
Mr Mr Wykes, 44, said he understood the need for taxes to rise. He told the Mirror: “As an individual, I am a Labour voter, the years of austerity have hurt us in a very important way. My children’s school in East London is under-funded, they can’t afford to pay for their roof, they have to do funding from parents for these sorts of things.
“My sister and brother are doctors, they lament the state of the NHS from seven years ago to where it is now. I feel me, as a benevolent and responsible employer, have a duty to my employees and they use public services. We have a duty to invest back in and if that means we pay higher taxes, so be it.”
He questioned whether price rises by others were justified. “I think there is definitely an area of this being used an excuse,” he said. “What’s interesting is not who puts their prices up, but when they do it. In reality, you get your wage inflation on the 6th of April. Businesses like me, we buy our goods two to three months ahead. In theory, there should be no flow through until July. But I bet you’ll see the opposite, and that’s just blatant profiteering.”
He also insisted the firm’s decision to not pass on the extra Budget costs had the backing of TDR Capital, which took over the business earlier this year. They are very, very supportive,” he said. “They get this.”
