GUS, the owner of Argos, is seeking leave for a second appeal against a £16 million fine for price-fixing on toys.

The retail group yesterday failed in its first attempt to appeal against penalties that the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) imposed on Argos and Littlewoods, a rival retailer, for fixing prices with Hasbro, the toy manufacturer.

The OFT had found that the retailers could control the price of children’s favourites such as Action Man, Monopoly and Twister. Hasbro escaped a possible fine of £15.5 million because it blew the whistle on Argos and Littlewoods.

The Competition Appeal Tribunal cut Argos’s fine from £17.2 million to £15 million and cut Littlewoods’s penalty from £5.37 million to £4.5 million. However, interest on the fines will take them to £16 million and nearly £5 million.

Littlewoods said in a statement that it did not believe it had infringed UK competition law and expressed disappointment that the appeal tribunal did not allow a full appeal. It said that it would now study all options available to it.

GUS said it was making a provision of £16 million against the operating profits of Argos to cover the fine. Argos bore the brunt of the fine since it is the UK’s biggest toy retailer.

Argos said: “Argos continues to maintain vigorously its innocence . . . We do not believe the OFT has proved its case.”

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