Your company research and development team have been analysing the product of company x. They have reported that repeated washes in the product increase the risk of the fabric being damaged. They have found that normal cotton items disintegrated after 20 washes and believe it is due to a synthetic enzyme developed by x. This could be competitive dynamite!

The main trade union representing workers in the company is threatening industrial action following the announcement that the senior directors in the firm had received bonus payments for performance effectively increasing their existing salary by 2.5 times. The last pay deal for workers was just under the current rate of inflation. A one day protest is being organised which will cause disruption to production and increase costs.

You are a highly geared company with a loan to share capital ratio of 65:35. The rise in house prices and strong retail spending figures have given rise to suggestions that the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee are likely to begin a series of interest rate rises in the next few months.

Your recent advertising campaign led to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) receiving 24 complaints about the inappropriate nature of the advert suggesting that it suggested that only women were likely to do the washing in the household and that this was inherently sexist and a misrepresentation of the complex role juggling that women have to play in modern society. The ASA has upheld the complaints and have asked you to withdraw the advert immediately. The news has been well publicised by the tabloid press.