INDEX / DIRECTORY / VERY

Very

Online MarketplacesDepartment Stores 106 CITED SOURCES UPDATED 2026-11-03 METHOD V6.6
Complicity Index score 0 /1000 E Tier E - Limited
Military ↗ 0.00 Digital ↗ 0.00 Economic ↗ 0.00 Political ↗ 0.00
OWNERSHIP TREE 2 brands and group businesses View all

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Key Findings

  • Political: Nadhim Zahawi, a director of The Very Group Limited per Companies House, made a 2023 statement on Gaza, before his Very role, and 2026 remarks on Iran, as a Reform UK member; no report attributes either to Very.1, 2, 3
  • Economic: Keter, an Israeli-founded brand, is the one product-origin question the audit left open. Keter’s Barkan settlement factory was reported ended in 2016, and its listing at Very could not be confirmed.4, 5, 6
  • Digital: Very’s disclosed vendors are Kyndryl, commercetools and AWS. None of the sources connects them to Israeli state bodies.7, 8, 9
  • Not found: No public evidence identified of any Israeli defence contract, settlement presence, or listing in the UN settlement-business database or the AFSC and Who Profits pages checked.10, 11, 12, 13

Target Profile

FieldDetail
Company NameThe Very Group Limited (formerly Shop Direct Limited, 2008–2020; March U.K. Limited, 2003–2008) 14
JurisdictionUnited Kingdom; Companies House 04730752, incorporated 11 April 2003 15
HeadquartersSkyways House, Speke, Liverpool 15
SectorOnline multi-brand retail and consumer financial services (Very, Littlewoods, Very Ireland, Very Pay) 16, 17
OwnershipPrivate. Carlyle took control in November 2025, and IMI (Abu Dhabi) remains a key stakeholder. Percentages are not disclosed 17, 18
Key Executives / GovernanceRobbie Feather (Group CEO); Nadhim Zahawi (announced non-executive Chair May 2024, registered director since 13 Sep 2024; current Chair title not directly confirmed); Edward Fry (CFO, director) 2, 19, 20
Israeli-Nexus SummaryNo public evidence identified of a direct operational, military, digital or settlement nexus. Documented items are peripheral: vendor-side and owner-side facts, a Chair’s personal statements, and an unresolved Keter product-origin question

Key Facts:

Executive Summary

Very is a UK and Ireland online retailer and financial-services provider. The audits found no Very contract, subsidiary, branch, franchise or sales operation in Israel or the occupied territories. They found no defence, security or export-licensing relationship and no Israeli-origin technology in its disclosed stack.16, 10, 7

The documented items are peripheral and sit at one remove from the company. Carlyle’s past defence investments are US-centred and largely pre-2020. Its Israel-linked holdings found are civilian technology, and whether Carlyle still holds LiveU is unknown.24, 25, 26 Very’s cloud vendors include AWS, a Project Nimbus contractor, but the sources do not connect Very’s AWS use to Nimbus.9, 27 Chair Nadhim Zahawi made personal statements on Gaza in 2023 and on Iran in 2026. Neither is attributed to Very in any report opened.1, 3

The Keter question remains unresolved. Keter is an Israeli-founded brand with a historically alleged West Bank factory at Barkan. Who Profits’ late-2016 update said Keter no longer operated there, and only a 2024 advocacy post (citing Who Profits, with no new documentation) alleges otherwise. Whether Very lists Keter products, and from which origin, could not be established.4, 5, 28

Not supported by evidence: any Very listing in the UN settlement-business database (the full list was not read), any boycott campaign naming Very or Carlyle, and any statement by the company on the conflict.11, 12, 13, 29 The result is BRS 0, Tier E (Minimal/No Complicity).

Timeline of Relevant Events

DateEvent
2012 (Apr–Nov)Corporate Watch letter alleges a Keter Barkan factory; B&Q says it does not source from the site [pre-2020]30
21 Mar 2014Who Profits records Keter trucks at a Barkan yard [pre-2020]5
Late 2016Who Profits update: Keter “no longer operates” in the West Bank [pre-2020]4
18 Oct 2023Zahawi interview on Gaza, before his Very role1
19 Sep 2023 / 28 Feb 2025Kyndryl partnership announced / new multi-year agreement reported7, 8
27–28 Feb 2024Carlyle and IMI £125m funding package, with a board seat each31
13 May 2024Zahawi announced as non-executive Chair19
7 Nov 2025Irish regulator clears Carlyle’s acquisition; five directors resign16, 2
7–13 Nov 2025VGL Holdco administration (PwC) recorded32, 33
10 Nov 2025Very announces new ownership17
18 Feb 2025Release on a Carlyle direct-lending fund raising money in Israel via an Israeli placement agent34
12 Jan 2026Zahawi joins Reform UK35
~28 Feb 2026Reported Iran remarks by Zahawi3
3–4 Sep 2026Auction reported close to being scrapped22, 23

Corporate Overview

The Very Group Limited is the Companies House-registered parent of Very, Littlewoods, Very Ireland and Very Financial Services.14 The Irish regulator records Carlyle’s acquisition of sole control of VGL Midco Limited, the parent, via Bird Bidco Limited. The PSC register shows VGL Finco Limited as the immediate controller from 2021; the sources do not reconcile the intermediate holding entities.16, 36

Press reports say PwC was appointed administrator of VGL Holdco Limited, a holding entity, and that Carlyle took control for £1. These are press reports; no administrator’s document could be read, so the £1 is unverified. The administered company is VGL Holdco, not The Very Group Limited.37, 32, 33

Carlyle injected £150m in February 2026 and IMI became a major lender. IMI is a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corporation, controlled by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan.20, 38 The audits found no Israeli subsidiary, franchisee or licensee. RTE’s description of IMI as taking “joint ownership” conflicts with the primary documents, which are preferred.16, 17

Domain Summaries

Military: Military

Mechanism of Involvement

No public evidence identified of contracts with the IMOD, IDF, Prison Service or Border Police; of appearance in Israeli defence directories; of militarised products; or of supply to Israeli defence primes.10, 12, 13 The only military-adjacent facts concern the controlling owner. Carlyle’s defence history includes United Defense (1997), Vigor Industrial (2019) and ManTech (2022), and it launched a US and Europe middle-market defence platform in May 2026; the source says nothing about Israel.24, 39 Carlyle’s Israel-linked holdings found are civilian technology: Actelis and others (2004) and LiveU (negotiations in 2021, current holding unknown).25, 26

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

Very is a consumer retailer, and the Irish regulator’s record contains no reference to defence or Israel.16 Carlyle’s defence investments are US-oriented, largely pre-2020 or of unknown status, and are not shown to involve Israeli primes. Carlyle’s own Wikipedia entry says it has invested less in defence recently.24 Limits: the A/HRC/59/23 text and OHCHR database rows could not be read, the Who Profits list was only partly visible, and SIBAT and IMOD tenders were not checked.11, 40, 12

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Carlyle, Bird Bidco, VGL Midco, VGL Holdco, IMI, Sheikh Mansour, the Barclay family, Feather, Zahawi, Yodel and PwC were each searched. None was found with an Israeli defence link.16, 32, 38, 41

Digital: Digital

Mechanism of Involvement

Very’s disclosed technology consists of Kyndryl cloud migration and managed services, commercetools headless commerce, and AWS with a generative-AI lab.7, 8, 9 No public evidence identified of Check Point, Wiz, SentinelOne, CyberArk, Nice, Verint, Claroty or Palo Alto products, of Israeli surveillance or biometric tools, of data centres in Israel, or of Project Nimbus participation.7, 27 Vendor-side context: AWS is a Nimbus awardee, and Kyndryl has an Israeli unit.27 The Guardian reported alleged Nimbus contract terms, which Google and Amazon denied. These are allegations about vendors, not findings about Very.42 Microsoft, a Kyndryl ecosystem partner, disabled some services used by an IDF unit; the sources do not establish that Very uses affected services.43

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

Very is a customer of mainstream commercial cloud services, and the sources do not connect its AWS use to Nimbus. No public evidence identified of Israeli technology reaching Very through its partners.9, 27 Limits: where customer data is stored or processed is not disclosed. The start date of the Kyndryl relationship and its status after February 2025 are unknown.8

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Kyndryl, AWS and Microsoft appear as vendor-side facts. Carlyle, IMI, the Barclay family, Zahawi and Feather were searched with no Israeli technology holdings found.7, 9, 43

Economic: Economic

Mechanism of Involvement

No public evidence identified of Israeli agricultural suppliers, an Israeli import entity, Israeli investments, offices or revenue attribution at Very.14, 21 The sole open item is Keter. Keter’s FAQ says most of its sheds are made in Israel and a few in the UK. Two other retailers list Israel as the origin of specific Keter models, but retailer origin fields are not customs documents. Very’s seller of record, SKUs and listing dates are unknown.6, 44, 45 Keter’s alleged Barkan factory (2012–2014 evidence) was reported ended by late 2016. The only later allegation is a 2024 advocacy post.4, 5, 30, 28 Keter’s lenders took ownership in April 2024 and Israeli banks refinanced it in 2025. 9fin names “Carlyle” among Keter’s largest term-loan holders, but whether that is Very’s owner is unconfirmed.46, 47 A February 2025 release says a Carlyle direct-lending fund raised money from Israeli investors through an Israeli placement agent; its status is unknown.34

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

The Keter question concerns a third-party brand, not Very’s own sourcing. Keter also manufactures in the UK. The settlement evidence is largely pre-2020, was reported ended in 2016, and the 2024 post is advocacy citing only Who Profits. No public evidence identified of enforcement action naming Very or Keter.4, 28, 48 The Carlyle loan-holder link is unconfirmed.46 Limits: the UN database company names were not reviewed, so listing of Very or Keter is neither shown nor excluded.11

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Keter Group, Keter UK Limited, Wickes, Rapid Online, BC Partners and Carlyle were each checked. No Very-specific link was found other than the unresolved listing question.49, 44, 45, 46

Political: Political

Mechanism of Involvement

No public evidence identified of any Very statement on Israel-Palestine, boycott campaign, lobbying, donations to Israeli or military causes, or operations in the territories. Very’s charity partnerships are domestic literacy charities.14, 29 The Chair’s personal record is the only political item. On 18 October 2023 Zahawi told The National that a lasting settlement was needed so “innocent Palestinians don’t have to die”. The Commons wording attributed to him on 16 October 2023 could not be verified.1, 50 Reports from about 28 February 2026, taken from secondary or hostile sources, quote him supporting the US over strikes on Iran; the original post was not opened.3, 51 Companies House shows him as an active director, while the Chair title in 2026 is unconfirmed.2, 19 Reform UK’s Israel-funded trips predate his joining and do not mention him.52

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

These are personal statements: the Palestine remarks predate his Very role, the Iran remarks concern Iran, and no report attributes them to Very. No public evidence identified of Very corporate political conduct after the ICJ opinion of July 2024 or the ICC warrants of November 2024.1, 3 Press reports of the 2026 remarks come from hostile or secondary outlets.

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Zahawi, Feather, Aidan and Howard Barclay, Carlyle, IMI and Reform UK were each searched. Apart from Zahawi’s statements and the Carlyle-fund release, no Israel-related finding was made.2, 34

Complicity Index Score

Method: V6.6 (vetted).

DomainIMPV-Domain Score
Military0.000.000.000.00
Digital0.000.000.000.00
Economic0.000.000.000.00
Political0.000.000.000.00

All four domains score zero because no mechanically eligible frame was found: the audited facts are vendor-side, owner-side or personal-capacity items, and the Keter question is unresolved and in part historical. With V_MAX at 0.00, the BRS is 0 and the company falls in Tier E (0–199). The method is scale-free, evidence-only and human-vetted.

Methodology Note

Footnotes

  1. https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2023/10/18/nadhim-zahawi-calls-for-united-push-to-stop-deaths-of-innocent-palestinians ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  2. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/04730752/officers ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  3. https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/reforms-farage-urges-entry-war-after-uk-bases-not-used-strikes-iran ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  4. https://www.whoprofits.org/publications/report/133 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  5. https://www.whoprofits.org/companies/company/4060?keter-plastic-keter-group= ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  6. https://www.keter.com/en-us/inspiration/15-most-asked-questions-about-sheds.html ↩ ↩2

  7. https://www.kyndryl.com/about-us/news/2023/09/public-cloud-migration-for-ecommerce-company.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  8. https://www.nationaltechnology.co.uk/The_very_group_signs_multi_year_agreement_with_kyndryl.php ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  9. https://fashionunited.uk/press/retail/the-very-group-selects-aws-to-transform-the-shopping-experience-with-generative-ai/2023112772775 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  10. https://www.theverygroup.com/sustainability/reporting-policies/modern-slavery-and-human-trafficking/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  11. https://www.unognewsroom.org/teleprompter/en/2845/hrc-60-report-on-opt-database-29-september-2025 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  12. https://www.whoprofits.org/companies/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  13. https://investigate.afsc.org/occupations ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Very_Group ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  15. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/04730752 ↩ ↩2

  16. https://www.ccpc.ie/enforcement-and-regulation/mergers/find-a-merger-case/details/carlyle-the-very-group ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  17. https://www.theverygroup.com/media/news/2025/the-very-group-announces-new-ownership-and-strengthened-capital-base-to-support-future-growth ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  18. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/carlyle-takes-control-very-group-094519453.html ↩

  19. https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/barclay-family-very-group-taken-094158538.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  20. https://www.theindustry.fashion/carlyle-launches-very-group-sale-2026/ ↩ ↩2

  21. https://www.theverygroup.com/media/news/2025/customer-focus-and-diligent-cost-control-delivers-record-earnings-growth-at-the-very-group/ ↩ ↩2

  22. https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/online-retailer-very-group-scraps-074700612.html ↩ ↩2

  23. https://www.retail-insight-network.com/news/very-group-sale-nears-collapse/ ↩ ↩2

  24. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Carlyle_Group ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  25. https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-796827 ↩ ↩2

  26. https://www.calcalistech.com/articles/0,7340,L-3912782,00.html ↩ ↩2

  27. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3905654,00.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  28. https://bdscoalition.ca/2024/05/28/make-sure-you-are-not-purchasing-apartheid-this-summer/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  29. https://business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/israelopt-ongoing-attacks-on-gaza-see-escalating-calls-for-consumers-to-boycott-companies-linked-to-israel ↩ ↩2

  30. https://corporatewatch.org.uk/bid-402/ ↩ ↩2

  31. https://enterpriseam.com/uae/2024/02/28/barclay-family-secures-a-gbp-40-mn-loan-from-imi/ ↩

  32. https://insolvencyintel.co.uk/vgl-holdco-limited/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  33. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/13500300/filing-history ↩ ↩2

  34. https://www.prnewswire.com/il/news-releases/within-a-year-three-international-funds-raised-over-1-5-billion-shekels-over-420m-in-israel - solely-from-qualified-private-investors-302378906.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  35. https://news.stv.tv/politics/ex-tory-chancellor-nadhim-zahawi-defects-to-reform-uk ↩

  36. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/04730752/persons-with-significant-control ↩

  37. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/carlyle-launch-2bn-auction-very-122502695.html ↩

  38. https://statemediamonitor.com/2025/07/international-media-investments-imi/ ↩ ↩2

  39. https://samsearch.co/government-contracting-news/carlyle-group-establishes-middle-market-defense-investment-platform-104903 ↩

  40. https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2025/7/3/un-expert-calls-on-world-to-end-trade-with-israels-economy-of-genocide ↩

  41. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_and_Frederick_Barclay ↩

  42. https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/israelopt-google-amazon-agreed-to-stringent-unorthodox-controls-in-project-nimbus-contract-with-israeli-govt-sidestepping-legal-orders/ ↩

  43. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/microsoft-ends-israel-military-units-access-cloud-service-rcna233723 ↩ ↩2

  44. https://www.wickes.co.uk/Keter-Stronghold-Brown-Shed---10-x-11-5ft/p/352119 ↩ ↩2

  45. https://www.rapidonline.com/keter-230255-manor-shed-grey-6-x-5ft-98-1123 ↩ ↩2

  46. https://9fin.com/insights/keter-tlb-bank-refi ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  47. https://www.milbank.com/en/news/milbank-advises-senior-lenders-to-keter-group-on-transfer-of-ownership.html ↩

  48. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2009/12/11/uk-calls-for-clearer-israeli-labels ↩

  49. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keter_Group ↩

  50. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadhim_Zahawi ↩

  51. https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/reform-uk-flip-flop-on-iran-as-party-start-to-follow-the-crowd-403879/ ↩

  52. https://novaramedia.com/2026/07/09/israel-spent-50k-on-lobbying-trips-for-reform/ ↩