Poundstretcher hires new chief May 14, 2012 Poundstretcher has hired Richard Kirk, the former boss of womenswear retailer Peacocks as its new chief executive. Kirk stepped down from the debt-laden retailer in January after it fell into administration in the biggest collapse in the retail sector since Woolworths in 2008. Before joining Peacocks in 1996, Kirk working as managing director of Iceland [...]
PROFILE: CHRIS ROGERS TO STEER COFFEE CHAIN’S EXPANSION April 4, 2012 CHRIS ROGERS, who was named as Costa’s incoming managing director yesterday, joined the leisure group in 2005 after a stellar 17-year career in the retail sector. Rogers qualified as a chartered accountant with PwC and joined DIY firm Kingfisher in 1988 as a corporate finance manager, spending a total of 13 years at the company [...]
Textile tycoon makes move on Peacocks February 5, 2012 A PAKISTANI textile billionaire is understood to be putting together a surprise bid to rescue Peacocks with the collapsed retailer’s management team. The fashion chain went into administration last month in the biggest retail collapse since Woolworths, after plans to restructure the company broke down and banks pulled the plug on funding. Alshair Fiyaz, who [...]
Peacocks still searching for white knight January 22, 2012 PRIVATE EQUITY firms and buy-out groups are poised to make a bid for Peacocks, the discount clothing chain, which collapsed into administration last week. Its administrators KPMG will open the data room to Peacocks today, which will allow potential bidders to browse financial and other relevant data on the firm. KMPG expects to receive the [...]
Peacocks axes 249 jobs as Pumpkin Patch folds January 19, 2012 THE crisis-hit fashion retailer Peacocks is set to cut 249 staff at its headquarters in Cardiff, administrator KPMG announced yesterday. The administration of Peacocks, which owns 611 UK stores and employs over 9,000 staff, is one of the biggest retail failures since Woolworths collapsed in 2008. Chris Laverty, from KPMG, said the stores will continue [...]
HMV’s last stand has new toys but not much future December 19, 2011 SIX years ago, David Cameron famously taunted Tony Blair in the House of Commons by saying “He was the future once”. And at that point, ahead of Christmas 2005, the HMV Group seemed to have a future. Annual profits were still well over £100m, the age of digital downloading seemed a distant threat and HMV’s [...]
TOP LINES | WHAT WENT WRONG ON THE UK HIGH STREET December 13, 2011 ● The phenomenal growth of online retailing, the rise of shopping through mobile phones, and the sophistication of the major retailers combined with a crippling recession, have all conspired to change today’s retail landscape, Portas said. ● Town centre vacancy rates have doubled over the last two years. With shoppers flocking out of town, less [...]
Gerald Corbett to join Betfair December 7, 2011 CITY veteran Gerald Corbett, who has been chief executive of both Railtrack and Woolworths during his lengthy career, has been appointed as deputy chairman of struggling betting group Betfair. Corbett is currently currently chairman of Britvic, the the Royal National Institute for the Deaf and Moneysupermarket.com. He was chairman of Woolworths until a year before the [...]
High street trade is worst since 2008 December 4, 2011 HIGH street trading is in a worse state today than it was in the tumultuous period after Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy three years ago, an Ernst & Young report has revealed. Eighteen per cent of general retailers, excluding food and drug vendors, have issued profit warnings since the beginning of October, up from 14 per [...]
High street electricals: a mug’s game November 9, 2011 IN the end, they couldn’t even give it away. As well as taking on Comet’s pension scheme, which is in deficit to the tune of €45.9m, Kesa is having to pay a £50m dowry to buyer OpCapita to offload its ailing electricals chain. Buried deep in the terms and conditions of the contract is a [...]