Peacocks sold to Edinburgh Woollen Mill
EDINBURGH Woollen Mill has rescued the distressed fashion chain Peacocks out of administration, saving 6,000 jobs, though thousands of staff are still to be made redundant.
Administrator KPMG said the deal, which was settled at the weekend, will save 388 shops but more than 244 stores have ceased trading with immediate effect, leading to 3,100 redundancies.
EWM walked away from the auction of Peacocks earlier this month but was invited back to the bidding table by KPMG at the eleventh hour.
The group beat off competition from SKNL, the chain’s Indian supplier, which was in long-running talks to buy a substantial number of stores.
Chris Laverty, joint administrator at KPMG, told City A.M. that EWM “was first to the finishing line” with a bid that reflected “the best value with the most certainty”.
Last year, EWM snapped up the Jane Norman brand and 33 of its stores after the womenswear retailer plunged into administration.
The group, based in Langholm, Scotland, has expanded to over 500 stores in a decade under the chairmanship of Philip Day. He was previously managing director of Aquascutum, where he helped turn around its UK business.
Day (pictured), who staged a management buyout of EWM in 2002, said the Peacocks purchase “gives further depth to EWM’s range of trading profiles and asserts our position as one of the UK’s leading High Street fashion and clothing retailers”.