Decision Nº M/03/016 from Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, 2003-07-15

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Parties: GUS Ireland,March UK
• Date: 15 July 2003
• Decision Date: 15 July 2003
• Status: Cleared (Phase 1)
• Court: Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (Ireland)
• Decision Number: M/03/016

Determination of the Competition Authority

Determination No. M/03/016 of the Competition Authority, dated 15 July 2003,

under Section 21 of the Competition Act, 2002

Notification No. M/03/016 – Acquisition by March UK Limited of GUS Ireland

Limited and its subsidiaries

Introduction

1. On 16 June 2003 the Competition Authority, in accordance with Section 18 of the

Competition Act, 2002 (“the Act”) was notified, on a mandatory basis, of a

proposal whereby March U.K. Limited (March) would acquire GUS Ireland

Limited and its subsidiaries (GUS Ireland), the Irish home shopping business of

GUS plc. The Authority, in accordance with s 23(1)(b) of the Act, notified the

parties that it considers the transaction to be a media merger.

The Parties

2. March is a UK company ultimately controlled by Sir David Barclay and Sir

Frederick Barclay who also ultimately control Littlewoods Limited (Littlewoods),

a UK non-food retail business with interests in high street stores, catalogue

stores, mail order catalogues, online sales and related businesses. Sir David

Barclay and Sir Frederick Barclay also ultimately control the Scotsman

Publications Limited, a Scottish newspaper business and The Business Publishing

Limited which publishes a weekly business newspaper. There are a small amount

of sales of those publications in the State.

3. GUS Ireland is an Irish based home shopping catalogue business operating in the

State. Its principal brands in the State are “Family Album”, “Celtic Hampers”,

“Family Hampers”, “Kays” and “Morses”, offering a home shopping service to

customers via catalogues. The catalogues offer customers a wide range of goods

and additional services such as credit insurance. GUS Ireland formed part of the

GUS retail group, a UK group with interests in retail, home shopping and

financial services.

Analysis

4. There is no significant degree of overlap between the parties’ activities within the

State. As part of its UK operations, Littlewoods has home shopping activities on

the island of Ireland, but these activities are limited to Northern Ireland. Any

sales into the State are insignificant cross-border sales. Although Littlewoods

operates an online catalogue service within the UK, this service is not available to

consumers within the State. GUS Ireland’s home shopping activities are limited

to the State. It does not operate within Northern Ireland, which is served by the

GUS group’s UK-based operation.

5. The Authority found that the relevant geographic market in this matter was likely

to be limited to the State, rather than a broader market encompassing the UK or a

European-wide market. It found that home shopping channels tend to operate

1