They where that price around June last year

Perhaps this is the effect of competition?  Batteries with
(apparently) identical chemistries and attributes are available with
several brand names:

Sanyo Eneloop
Panasonic Infinium
Vapex Instant

Incidentally, it is absolutely _not_ the case that one can _reliably_
use Hybrio straight from the pack.  I got caught out by a brand new
set a month ago.  I'd believed the advertising, so hadn't checked the
cells.  Took them out as spares for my GPS, knowing its batteries
probably wouldn't last the full length of the walk we were doing. At
the halfway stop, changed the batteries only to find the GPS wouldn't
run for more than 10s before shutting down due to inadequate voltage.
Turned out one cell was virtually at full discharge state.  Checking
five packs to date, four were fine, all cells reading with at least
"good" voltage, but one other pack also contained a cell clearly near
end of discharge.

I can't comment on the shelf-life behaviour (yet), but indications
from colleagues are that this is good.  However, I'd recommend
occasional checks, particularly as Hybrios share the standard
rechargeable behaviour of going rapidly from being OK (no noticeable
loss of output from a bike light, say) to being as good as dead (glow
worm output from bike light).

HTH