Breakfast Briefing: Retail news on Tesco, B&Q and Carphone Warehouse

Tesco loses two female directors in board overhaul 

Tesco left with just one woman on the board, B&Q accused of pay-to-stay threats and Carphone Warehouse Ireland back in black

Tesco is poised to undergo another overhaul at the board level as Jacqueline Tammenoms Bakker and Liv Garfield announce they will stand down as non-executive directors. This means that the embattled grocer will be left with just one woman on its board, Deanna Oppenheimer, The Telegraph reported.

Tammenoms Bakker has told the board she wants to retire from her position on February 28 after six years on the board, while Garfield wants to focus on her work as chief executive of Severn Trent.

Suppliers accuse B&Q of pay-to-stay ‘threats’

DIY retailer B&Q has come under fire for allegedly threatening its suppliers by demanding they pay hundreds of thousands of pounds to stay on its books, according to The Times investigation. The chain approached companies demanding contributions to an ‘investment-for-growth’ programme. One supplier described the move as a ‘massively underhand cash grab’.

Suppliers, who spoke to The Times on condition of anonymity, said that they had been subjected to verbal ‘pay-to-stay’ demands amounting to as much as a tenth of their turnover with B&Q. However, suppliers said that the requests came with the threat that those that did not acquiesce risked being struck off their supplier base. The Forum of Private Business and Federation of Small Businesses told The Times that they had been contacted by suppliers who were outraged by B&Q’s actions.

Carphone Warehouse Ireland back in black

Carphone Warehouse has made a profit in Ireland for the first time in over five years, Irish Independent reported. The mobile phone retailer swung to a pre-tax profit of €2.1m (£1.5m) in 2014 from a loss of €10m (£7.3m) a year ago. Revenues surged 13% to €120m (£87.2m) last year. The news comes as the company prepares to pump in €30m (£21.8m) on a new mobile phone operation in the country to be launched this summer.