Day 247 - 10 May 96 - Page 27


     
     1   Q.   That is before tax.  After tax, I think it is £20,046,000
     2        profit?
     3        A.  That is quite a difference.
     4
     5   Q.   It is still a substantial profit; is it not?
     6        A.  Well, I am glad I have it, if that is what you mean.
     7        Is it a justified return on the investment made by the
     8        shareholders?  I have to tell you it is not.  People could
     9        earn more just putting it in a bank having created no jobs,
    10        no wealth, no nothing.
    11
    12   Q.   Your fries, you sell them in regular, medium and large
    13        sizes?
    14        A.  Yes, 3 sizes.
    15
    16   Q.   Why is not the regular size called small?
    17        A.  I did not pick the names.  It is something inherited
    18        from many, many years ago when there were, I think, 2
    19        sizes, regular and large.
    20
    21   Q.   No, there used to be regular and medium.
    22        A.  Well, Ms. Steel, let me correct you.  In the early days
    23        of McDonald's there were only 2 sizes.  There was a regular
    24        and a large size.  Subsequently other sizes have come along
    25        necessitating the large introduction.
    26
    27   Q.   The fact is, Mr. Preston, that you call them "regular" to
    28        make people think that they are getting more than if they
    29        were called" small in the same way that you call your wages
    30        "competitive" rather than calling them "low"?
    31
    32   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I would be surprised if anyone selling
    33        anything called it "small" if they could think of some
    34        other adjective because that makes people think they are
    35        getting less than they ought to.
    36
    37   MS. STEEL:   Exactly.
    38
    39   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  We have to live in the real world.
    40
    41   MS. STEEL:   That is the reality, is it not, Mr. Preston, that
    42        most people would call your wages low but you prefer to
    43        call them "competitive".
    44
    45   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I correct that.  Ice cream vans sometimes
    46        have small, medium and large but they are probably not as
    47        clued up on marketing as McDonald's are.
    48
    49   MS. STEEL:   That is the reality, is it not, Mr. Preston, that
    50        most people would call your wages "low" but you prefer to 
    51        call them "competitive" or "fair"? 
    52        A.  No, I would disagree with that. 
    53
    54   MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think you have left that point.
    55
    56   MR. MORRIS:  Going back to the Jill Barnes Health and Safety
    57        Update, November 1993.  Mr. Riley has kindly copied a
    58        couple of the relevant pages but he could not copy all of
    59        them.
    60

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