Commodities rout, competition issues and zero-hours contracts: Here’s Santa Plc’s annual report
Last year Morning Wire reported that after the financial crisis Santa Claus was in line for his merriest Christmas in years. But things are looking decidedly less festive in 2015.
At the top of his naughty list this year? Governments, we suspect, who have not only created controversy over the zero-hours contracts he (probably) uses to hire his seasonal worker elves (Equilibrium reckons he hires almost half a million of them each year) – but have also hiked minimum wages.
At least the commodities rout has been helpful: with coal prices falling, teaching naughty children a lesson has become eminently cheaper.
And his currency is looking decidedly strong: the price of cocoa, against which the chocolate coin is (almost definitely) pegged, has risen in recent months, pushing down the cost of importing manufacturing materials (and fairy dust).
What does 2016 hold for Santa Plc? Could a spin-off be in store? It follows that Ofcom, which has been keen to flag up competition issues in the broadband and deliveries sectors this year, could turn its attentions to Santa's Christmas present market share – suspiciously high at 100 per cent – in 2016.
