Very MILITARY

Research date: 3 November 2026. Scope: The Very Group Limited (retailer of Very, Littlewoods and Very Ireland), its owners, controlling principals and former group entities. Findings are presented as sourced data only, without scores or conclusions. This version extends an earlier audit with Companies House, Irish CCPC and trade-press evidence on the November 2025 ownership transaction and a refreshed ownership status ^{1, 2, 3}.

Entity and ownership record. The Very Group Limited is the Companies House-registered parent of Very, Littlewoods, Very Ireland and Very Financial Services, and was previously named Shop Direct Limited (2008 to 2020) and March U.K. Limited (2003 to 2008) ¹. The Irish Competition and Consumer Protection Commission record for case M/25/067 describes the notified transaction as the acquisition of sole control of VGL Midco Limited, the parent of The Very Group Limited, by The Carlyle Group Inc. indirectly through Bird Bidco Limited, cleared under the simplified procedure on 7 November 2025, and states no price or other consideration ². The company announcement of 10 November 2025 says Carlyle became owner, the Barclay family exited after about 20 years and IMI remained a key stakeholder, and gives no price, valuation or structure ^{4, 5}. Press reports based on Sky News state that PwC was appointed administrator of VGL Holdco in November 2025 and that this allowed Carlyle, a long-standing creditor, to take control for a nominal £1; that figure is reported and was not confirmed from a primary filing that could be read ^{6, 7, 8}. Percentage holdings of Carlyle and IMI were not disclosed in any source opened ^{9, 2}.

Act record: ownership transfer and VGL Holdco administration. The acting entities on the Irish record are The Carlyle Group Inc. (notified party) and Bird Bidco Limited (acquirer), the target is VGL Midco Limited, the channel is the Irish regulator’s case page, and the earliest and latest dated observation of the determination is 7 November 2025 ². The notice for VGL Holdco Limited (company number 13500300) records appointment of joint administrators Catherine Rachel Atkinson, Zelf Hussain and Peter David Dickens of PwC LLP on 7 November 2025 under High Court case CR-2025-007861, with the notice published on 12 November 2025 ¹⁰. The Companies House filing history for VGL Holdco shows an appointment of an administrator filed 13 November 2025, receiver appointment and ceasing-to-act notices filed 17 November 2025, a statement of affairs and administrator’s proposal both filed 7 January 2026, the result of the creditors’ meeting filed 20 January 2026 and an administrator’s progress report filed 19 June 2026, so the administration was continuing at 19 June 2026 and its status after that date is unknown ^{3, 11}. The text of the administrator’s proposal could not be read, so the consideration for the VGL Midco shares is unverified beyond press reports ^{3, 6}.

Refreshed ownership status. A January 2026 report said Carlyle was preparing a sale at about £2bn, and a June 2026 report said the formal sale had launched with Barclays and JP Morgan as reported advisers ^{12, 7}. Reports of 3 and 4 September 2026 say the auction was close to being scrapped after bidders including JD.com declined to meet the £2bn asking price, that Carlyle was expected to remain in control for now and that a Very Group spokesman declined to comment on the sale process ^{8, 13}. The Industry Fashion reports a February 2026 refinancing in which Carlyle injected £150m, IMI became a major lender, the securitisation facility was extended to February 2029 and the revolving credit facility to 2030 ⁷.

Named entities, searched by name.

• Carlyle (controlling owner since November 2025; The Carlyle Group Inc. is the notified party on the Irish record): searched for Israeli defence primes, Israel and Gaza campaigns, and Israeli holdings; no stake in Elbit, Rafael or IAI found, and the Israel-linked holdings found are civilian technology ^{14, 15, 2, 16, 17}.
• Bird Bidco Limited (acquirer of VGL Midco Limited on the Irish record): searched, none found beyond its role as acquirer in the ownership transaction ^{2, 11}.
• VGL Midco Limited (company number 13500306, parent of The Very Group Limited): searched, none found beyond its role as target of the transaction ^{2, 11}.
• VGL Holdco Limited (company number 13500300, in administration, described as having no connection to Very’s operations): searched, none found beyond its insolvency and its role in the ownership transfer ^{10, 3, 8}.
• IMI / International Media Investments (continuing stakeholder and reported lender, subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corporation): searched for Israel and defence; the profile opened says nothing on either ^{18, 7}.
• Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan (controller of Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corporation, which owns IMI): searched for Israeli defence ties; searched, none found ¹⁸.
• Barclay family, including Aidan Barclay and Howard Barclay (owners until November 2025): searched for Israel and defence ties; the Barclay biography opened lists shipping, hotels, media, retail and delivery interests with no Israel or defence entry ^{19, 20}.
• Frederick Barclay (surviving twin, former co-owner): searched for Israel and defence; the biography opened lists no such interest ¹⁹.
• Robbie Feather (Group CEO): searched for defence and Israel; career given as Argos and Fenwick, no defence or Israel tie found ⁹.
• Nadhim Zahawi (non-executive Chair since May 2024): searched again for defence, Israel and Gaza; the UK government advisory-committee record lists his Very Group chair role and a prior Adam Smith Institute role and mentions neither defence nor Israel ^{21, 22}.
• Yodel (former Barclay-controlled delivery business, lost in a pre-pack earlier in 2024): searched for IDF and Israel contracts; searched, none found ^{20, 19}.
• PwC LLP joint administrators of VGL Holdco: searched in the context of the administration; the notice lists their appointment only and no defence or Israel link ¹⁰.

Direct Defence Contracting & Procurement

IMOD, IDF, Prison Service and Border Police contracts. No public evidence identified of any contract, tender award, framework agreement or memorandum of understanding between The Very Group and the Israeli Ministry of Defence, the IDF, the Israel Prison Service, the Israel Border Police or other Israeli security bodies; the Very modern-slavery disclosures page lists its statements for 2023 to 2025 and mentions none ²³.

Defence trade directories. No public evidence identified of The Very Group appearing in SIBAT or other Israeli defence export directories; no directory page was retrieved naming the company, and the checks of the Who Profits company list and the AFSC Investigate occupations page did not show it ^{24, 25}.

Press releases and announcements. No public evidence identified of any defence cooperation, joint venture or partnership with Israeli defence entities in the company’s ownership announcements of November 2025, which discuss only capital structure, technology, data and innovation ^{4, 9}.

Act record: company ownership announcement. The acting entity is Carlyle (the announcement does not name the legal entity), the beneficiary is control of The Very Group Limited, the channel is the company announcement of 10 November 2025 as republished by trade press, and the status is completed on 10 November 2025 ^{4, 5}. Whether Carlyle remains the owner is answered by September 2026 reports that it is expected to stay in control while the sale is close to being scrapped, so the position is continuing as reported on 4 September 2026 ^{8, 13}.

Dual-Use Products & Tactical Variants

Militarised product lines. No public evidence identified that The Very Group manufactures or markets ruggedised, tactical, mil-spec or defence-grade products; it is described as a multi-brand online retailer and financial services provider, including in the Irish regulator’s record ^{14, 1, 2}.

Civilian-to-military distinction. No public evidence identified of any contract-modified or purpose-built supply to Israeli state bodies; civilian retail availability is not treated here as evidence of military supply ¹.

End-user certification and export licensing. No public evidence identified of export licence applications, end-user certificates or export control reviews relating to Very sales to Israeli defence or security end-users ²³.

Heavy Machinery, Construction & Infrastructure

Equipment in occupied territories. No public evidence identified of Very-branded or Very-supplied equipment in settlements, the separation barrier or military installations; the press coverage of the UN Special Rapporteur’s report names heavy-machinery firms Caterpillar, HD Hyundai and Volvo Group and no retailer ^{26, 27}.

Direct versus indirect supply and end-use policy. No public evidence identified; Very’s modern-slavery disclosures page describes supplier and labour policies and does not mention end-use monitoring or Israel ²³.

Construction and engineering contracts. No public evidence identified of any contract for checkpoints, detention facilities, military bases, the barrier or settlement infrastructure; the UN update of September 2025 covers 158 enterprises focused on construction, real estate, mining and quarrying, and the Gulf Times report names no UK company ^{28, 29}.

Settlement Nexus. No public evidence identified of any Very branch, store, franchisee, licensee or subsidiary in the West Bank, East Jerusalem or the Golan Heights; the company’s operations are described as the UK and Ireland ^{1, 2}.

Supply Chain Integration with Defence Primes

Component supply to Elbit, IAI, Rafael or IMI/Elbit Land. No public evidence identified of any supply relationship between The Very Group and Israeli defence primes; the press coverage of the Special Rapporteur’s report names Elbit Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries as companies in the report and does not name Very ²⁷.

Component categories. No public evidence identified ²⁷.

Joint development and co-production. No public evidence identified ¹.

Group attribution, controlling owner. Carlyle’s published defence history includes the 1997 acquisition of United Defense Industries ($850 million, sold by 2004), the 1992 General Dynamics electronics acquisition and the 1993 Magnavox Electronic Systems acquisition [pre-2020, discontinued], the 2019 Vigor Industrial shipbuilder acquisition [pre-2020, status unknown] and the 2022 ManTech International acquisition ($3.9 billion, a US government cybersecurity and IT contractor, status unknown) ¹⁴. Carlyle launched a dedicated middle-market aerospace and defense platform in the US and Europe in late May 2026, chaired by Ian Fujiyama, which is continuing as of its announcement and which the source says nothing about in relation to Israel ¹⁵. The Wikipedia article on Carlyle states that “in more recent years, Carlyle has invested less in the defense industry” ¹⁴.

Group attribution, Carlyle’s Israel-linked holdings. A Globes article of 16 May 2004 says Carlyle had investments in Israel including Actelis Networks, Trellis Photonics and Packet Technologies and was reported to be seeking a controlling stake in Bezeq [pre-2020, status unknown]; the article mentions no defence activity ¹⁶. Calcalist reported on 19 July 2021 that Carlyle was in advanced negotiations to buy LiveU, an Israel-based live video transmission company with customers including CNN, BBC, AP, Sky News, Fox News, ESPN and Facebook, for about $400 million; the article does not mention military or defence customers, and whether Carlyle still holds LiveU is unknown ¹⁷. These are acts of the controlling owner and are not shown by any source opened to involve Israeli defence primes or The Very Group’s operations ^{14, 15, 16, 17}.

Logistical Sustainment & Base Services

Service contracts to military installations. No public evidence identified of catering, transport, fuel, waste, maintenance or telecommunications contracts between The Very Group and IDF bases or detention centres ²³.

Geographic specificity. No public evidence identified of any services in the West Bank, Golan Heights, East Jerusalem or the Negev ¹.

Shipping, freight and port services. No public evidence identified of Very shipping or freight contracts servicing Israeli defence logistics; its former delivery business Yodel was lost in a pre-pack earlier in 2024 and no source opened links Yodel to Israel ^{20, 19}.

Munitions, Weapons Systems & Strategic Platforms

Lethal systems manufacturing. No public evidence identified that The Very Group is a prime contractor or licensed manufacturer of any lethal platform supplied to Israeli forces ^{14, 1}.

Munitions and precursor materials. No public evidence identified ¹⁴.

Strategic and existential defence systems. No public evidence identified of any role in Iron Dome, David’s Sling, Arrow, fighter aircraft, tanks, warships or ballistic missile systems ²⁷.

Sub-system and critical component supply. No public evidence identified ²⁷.

Domain boundary note. No public evidence identified of any targeting, fire-control or kill-chain software provided by The Very Group ¹.

Export Licensing, Regulatory & Legal History

Export licence decisions. No public evidence identified of any grant, denial, suspension or revocation of an export licence for Very products to Israeli military or security end-users in any jurisdiction ²³.

Arms embargo and sanctions compliance. No public evidence identified of any investigation, citation or enforcement action concerning The Very Group and defence trade with Israel ²³.

Legal challenges and judicial review. No public evidence identified of court proceedings against The Very Group, or against governments about it, over a defence supply relationship with Israel; the proceedings found are the High Court administration of VGL Holdco Limited (case CR-2025-007861) and Deloitte’s March 2024 resignation as auditor citing difficulty obtaining information about certain financing arrangements, neither of which is an Israel or defence matter ^{10, 1, 19}.

Merger control. The Irish regulator cleared the Carlyle acquisition of VGL Midco Limited in Phase One on 7 November 2025, and its record contains no reference to defence or Israel ².

Constructive notice. No public evidence identified of any military-adjacent activity by The Very Group before or after the ICJ Advisory Opinion of 19 July 2024 or the ICC warrants of November 2024, so no continuation after those dates is documented ^{1, 2}.

Civil Society Scrutiny & Documented Investigations

UN OHCHR settlement database. The OHCHR update presented to the Human Rights Council on 29 September 2025 (A/HRC/60/19) found reasonable grounds to believe 158 of 215 assessed enterprises were involved in listed activities, with companies from Israel, Canada, China, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States, and the presentation named no individual company ³⁰. The Gulf Times report of 26 September 2025 names no British company, and the database rows themselves could not be reviewed, so a Very listing is neither shown nor excluded ^{28, 29}.

UN A/HRC/59/23 (Albanese, July 2025). Press coverage of the report lists named companies including Lockheed Martin, Leonardo, Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries, Caterpillar, HD Hyundai, Volvo Group, Maersk, Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, IBM and Palantir, and names no retailer, UK company or private-equity firm ^{26, 27}. The report text for paras 28 to 47 could not be read, so these are secondary press accounts ^{26, 27}.

Who Profits and AFSC Investigate. The Who Profits corporate database page retrieved showed only the first 20 of 24 pages (A to “Agrotop”), so a name check was incomplete ²⁴. The AFSC Investigate occupations page retrieved lists company categories (settlement industry, natural resources, walls and checkpoints, weapons and military equipment, discrimination) and did not show Very Group, Littlewoods, Shop Direct, Carlyle or IMI ²⁵.

Boycott and divestment campaigns. No public evidence identified of an organised boycott, divestment or exclusion campaign against The Very Group, Carlyle’s Very holding or IMI relating to defence-sector activity; a search for Carlyle with Israel, Gaza or divestment returned only unrelated campaigns against other companies ¹⁴.

Corporate response and policy statements. No public evidence identified of any statement, contract termination or end-use monitoring commitment by The Very Group in response to civil-society pressure on defence supply; its modern-slavery page lists annual statements for 2023 to 2025 covering Shop Direct Home Shopping Limited and Shop Direct Finance Company Limited and makes no mention of Israel ²³.

Controlling principals: military-channel acts. No public evidence identified of defence-board roles, defence-industry directorships, FIDF or reservist-fund donations, equity in Israeli defence primes or co-belligerency statements by Robbie Feather, Nadhim Zahawi, the Barclay family or Sheikh Mansour in the sources opened ^{22, 19, 18, 21}. Zahawi’s background is given as founder of YouGov, former Chancellor and former Education Secretary, appointed Chair in May 2024 and succeeding interim chair Aidan Barclay ²². Carlyle and Abu Dhabi representatives joined the board in 2024 per the Telegraph report republished by Yahoo Finance UK ²⁰.

Reservist pay and charitable matching. No public evidence identified of reservist salary subsidy policies in Israel or of charitable matching programmes by The Very Group, and the modern-slavery page opened mentions neither ²³.

Evidence gaps. The A/HRC/59/23 PDF and the OHCHR database rows could not be read in full, the Who Profits list was only partly visible, the text of the administrator’s proposal for VGL Holdco and the Irish determination PDF were not read, and SIBAT, IMOD tenders, export-licence data and the DBIO, SOMO, PAX and Al-Haq lists were not checked by name, so absence of evidence is limited to the sources opened ^{24, 25, 30, 3, 2}.