Wednesday newspaper round-up: Independent bookshops, car makers, Boohoo

Lidl, Zara’s owner Inditex, H&M and Next have been accused of paying garment suppliers in Bangladesh during the pandemic less than the cost of production, leaving factories struggling to pay the country’s legal minimum wage. In a survey of 1,000 factories in the country producing clothes for UK retailers, 19% of Lidl’s suppliers made the claim, as did 11% of Inditex’s, 9% of H&M’s and 8% of Next’s. – Guardian

Independent bookshops largely saw “average” sales over the 2022 festive period, according to a new survey. A majority of bookshops – 39% – that took part in trade magazine the Bookseller’s annual survey said they had average sales compared with the same period of 2021, while 29% of bookshops said the period was “very good”. – Guardian

Carmakers plan to slash the number of electric vehicles they manufacture as the spiralling cost of battery-powered models makes them increasingly unaffordable for drivers, an industry body has warned. The Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC), a green energy group that sits between government and manufacturers, has slashed its estimate for UK EV production in 2025 by a quarter after just three months. – Telegraph

Fund manager Terry Smith has accused Unilever of “virtue signalling” rather than focusing on financial performance in a fresh salvo against the ice cream-to-deodorant maker. The stock picker, whose £22bn Fundsmith vehicle is the 15th largest shareholder in Unilever, accused the company of failing to listen to the concerns of investors and criticised the consumer goods giant’s marketing. – Telegraph

Boohoo Group, the online fast-fashion retailer based in Manchester, is preparing to cut 100 jobs at its office in Soho, London. Most of the jobs under threat are in the ecommerce, buying and design departments. A consultation phase began last week but a decision on the final number of has not been made. From February 20 teams from brands that Boohoo bought such as Burton, Coast, Dorothy Perkins, Karen Millen, Oasis and Wallis will move under the Debenhams.com umbrella. – The Times