A DESIGNER bathroom manufacturer founded in Burnley has been fined £826,000 after threatening retailers with sanctions if they offered discounts for their products online.

Ultra Finishing Limited admitted to breaking competition laws by trying to force retailers to stick to to a ‘recommended retail price’ for online sales.

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The firm, which had a premises in Widow Hill Road up until October last year, was given the penalty by the Competition and Market Authority (CMA).

The CMA said the fine was reduced by 20 per cent to reflect Ultra’s admissions and co-operation with the investigation.

An Ultra Finishing spokesman said the company never set out to break competition regulations and its aim was to protect its brand and traditional high street retailers.

Ultra admitted between 2012 and 2014 it restricted the ability of its online retailers to determine the prices at which it could sell its Hudson Reed and Ultra branded products in a practice called resale price maintenance (RPM).

RPM is illegal because it prevents retailers from offering lower prices and setting their prices independently to attract more customers.

Ann Pope, CMA senior director, said: “Price competition from online sales is usually intense, given the ease of searching on the internet.

“Ultra’s practice of setting minimum online prices stopped retailers from offering discounted prices online, reducing competition across online and ‘bricks and mortar’ sales, and denying consumers the benefit of lower prices for Ultra’s bathroom fittings.

“The CMA takes such vertical price-fixing seriously and is focused on tackling anti-competitive practices that diminish the many benefits of e-commerce.”

Ultra issued retailers with a so-called ‘recommended’ retail price list for online sales.

Despite being described as recommendations, which are lawful, Ultra threatened retailers with penalties for not pricing at or above the ‘recommended’ price, including charging them higher prices for products, withdrawing their rights to use Ultra’s images online, or ceasing supply.

This limited the retailers’ ability to offer discounts to potential buyers, the CMA said.

The news of the fine has been welcomed by community leaders who said it was the public who ultimately suffered.

Former Burnley MP and current councillor Gordon Birtwistle said: “If they have broken the law they should receive punishment.

“I am glad the CMA has taken the action it has and has set such a high fine because it will deter other companies from doing the same.

“The victims in these scenarios are the public.”

County cllr Margaret Brindle, who represents the Burnley Rural ward, said: “I can’t agree with any unethical practise which is detrimental to the public.

“I am glad they have been fined £826,000.”

Ultra Finishing said it fully accepted the CMA’s findings.

A company spokesman said: “While Ultra didn’t set out to breach any regulations, our aim was only to protect our brand and our traditional retailers on the high street, we do accept now that this was a breach in regulation.

“Back in 2014 when Ultra first realised and was made aware, we immediately stopped the activity. While we can move on we realise our industry hasn’t and that these practices are still in place today.

“We have been forced to reconsider how we can support traditional retailers alongside the growth of the internet.”

The firm, whose unofficial motto is ‘Burnley jobs for Burnley people’, was started by Steven Heys in Elm Street in 1982 and became a successful and expanding enterprise, employing hundreds in Burnley.

In 2012, Ultra Finishing bought Halifax-based bathroom company Niko Distribution and the following year Mark Two in Bolton. It sold its premises in Widow Hill Road site to a local firm last year and transferred staff to its sites in Bolton and Halifax.