Luxury retailers Prada and Kurt Geiger have been criticized by campaign groups for taking months to pay suppliers.
Good Business Pays highlighted two fashion houses and several other companies that frequently took more than two months to pay their UK suppliers’ invoices.
The charity says late payments and delays cost small businesses an average of £22,000 a year and lead to 50,000 businesses closing down each year.
In a March report, Good Business Pays cited AB InBev, the maker of Bud Light, and Coca-Cola Europa-Pacific Partners, the European bottler of Coca-Cola beverages, for slow and delayed payments. highlighted as the main cause.
Good Business Pay’s semi-annual report aims to put pressure on large companies to speed up their payment practices to small businesses in the absence of government legislation forcing them to do so. There is.
But the group said the number of businesses taking more than 80, 90 and 100 days to pay businesses has remained unchanged compared to last year. The same companies emerge every year, the group said, suggesting that “firms that are slow to pay or have a culture of slow payments persist.”
On this occasion, Prada and Kurt Geiger stood out as luxury companies that take longer than average to settle their invoices with suppliers.
Prada took on average 138 days to pay its suppliers’ invoices, with four out of five invoices paid after 61 days.
Kurt Geiger, another luxury brand, took an average of 103 days to pay its bills. The fashion group was also named as a persistent late payer for closing invoices past agreed terms.
Additionally, more than half of Kurt Geiger’s bills were paid late.
Representatives for Prada and Kurt Geiger did not respond to requests for comment.
Previous legislation required businesses to report payment time data or face prosecution, which was the basis of the Good Business Pays report. However, this focuses on reputational concerns that change corporate behavior.
Terry Corby, CEO of Good Business Pays, said: “Only reputational pressure from organizations like Good Business Pays, supported by appropriate legislation and government enforcement, can lead to delays. “This will force changes in payment behavior and slow payment behavior.” “These new measures will go some way to promoting cultural change.”
The new Labor government plans to bring in consultation With a focus on fair payment timing, we have also introduced the Fair Payment Code, which is only awarded to businesses that demonstrate they meet our good payment standards.
The consultation process will consider other measures that could force more businesses to shorten their payment times.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in September: “We are determined to support small and medium-sized businesses by removing barriers to growth, and ending payment delays is at the heart of that.”
