| [00:00.00] |
Good morning, nice to meet you. Do sit down. |
| [00:03.00] |
Thank you. |
| [00:04.56] |
Now, you're Human Resources manager of Jenkins, aren't you? |
| [00:07.94] |
Give me some background on the company, so I get a general picture. |
| [00:12.64] |
Stephen Jenkins founded the company nearly 30 years ago, and named it after himself, and he ran it for along time. |
| [00:20.56] |
Last year one of our competitors proposed combining, with the idea that separately the two companies were too small to survive. |
| [00:29.56] |
They were probably right, but anyway Stephen turned down the offer. |
| [00:34.14] |
Then, because he was getting on, he handed over the day-to-day running to his daughter, Catherine, while retaining full control himself. |
| [00:42.19] |
And you make children's clothes, don't you? Aren't there problems in the sector? |
| [00:46.99] |
Well, we mostly sell to retail chains, which sell them under their own brand labels. |
| [00:52.34] |
And things aren't as easy as they were, what with cheap imports, and the more expensive children's boutiques making inroads at the top end of the market. |
| [01:01.29] |
But we position ourselves in the middle range, so we're not too badly affected. |
| [01:06.48] |
We're under increasing pressure to cut our profit margins, though, because of growing competition between High Street retailers. |
