By Luke May and Martin Robinson Chief Reporter For Mailonline
Published: 12:35 EDT, 25 January 2021 | Updated: 05:27 EDT, 21 April 2021
The playboy son of Boohoo's billionaire boss hailed his father's £55million takeover of Debenhams by revealing the family used to shop there every Saturday 'looking for cheap TVs'.
Boohoo owner Mahmud Kamani today bought the Debenhams brand with plans to make it an online-only operation - putting up to 12,000 jobs at risk as he hopes to create the Amazon of fast-fashion.
All of the retailer's 124 stores will close for good, spelling the end of the brand on the high street after 242 years.
Mr Kamani's son Umar, himself the founder of fashion brand PrettyLittleThing, made a nod to the family's humble beginnings in Manchester by tweeting about the deal: 'Mad that we used to go into Debenhams every Saturday looking for cheap TV’s with my dad.'
Aged just 32, Umar's wealth has allowed him to buy a mansion, a fleet of cars, including two Rolls-Royce Phantoms, a £300,000 Lamborghini Aventador, a £92,000 customised G-Class Mercedes and a high-end Range Rover.
And he has also been linked with some of the world's most beautiful women and friends with Hollywood.
Debenhams has been sold for £55million but was valued at £1.7billion when it was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2006 and made a record £160million profit in 2013. Today its shares are worthless after recent annual losses approached £500million.
Its purchase spells another step into the mainstream for fast-fashion giant Boohoo, owned by Mahmud Kamani, which had its reputation badly damaged following revelations that its suppliers used sweatshops in Leicester to produce cheap clothing during lockdown.
Boohoo founder Mahmud Kamani has purchased Debenhams for £55million. Today his son Umar (pictured together), himself the founder of PrettyLittleThing, remembered how the Manchester family used to visit the store every week 'looking for cheap TVs'
Despite the scandal, revenues jumped 40 per cent to £660.8million and profits surged to £68.1million during the pandemic, Boohoo Group, which also owns the PrettyLittleThing website run by Mr Kamani's playboy son Umar, announced earlier this month.
Mr Kamani said today: 'Our acquisition of the Debenhams brand is strategically significant as it represents a huge step which accelerates our ambition to be a leader, not just in fashion eCommerce, but in new categories including beauty, sport and homeware.'
There is also a new battle of the British billionaires as three of the country's richest businessmen also went into battle for the remainder of Sir Philip Green's Arcadia retail empire after it collapsed last year.
Mr Kamani, worth £1billion, is fighting with online rival ASOS, run by Scotland's richest man Anders Holch Povlsen, worth £6.1billion, for the purchase of the Topshop, Topman and Miss Selfridge brands in what would be one of the biggest shake-ups of the British retail landscape in decades. The Blackburn-born billionaire brothers Zuber and Mohsin Issa, who made their £3.56billion from petrol stations and recently bought the supermarket chain Asda, have also been locked in secret talks to buy Topshop.
But this morning Mr Povlsen's ASOS said in a statement to shareholders: 'ASOS plc notes recent media speculation and confirms that it is in exclusive discussions with the Administrators of Arcadia over the acquisition of the Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT'. But a spokesman said a deal is not inevitable.
Some experts have suggested the £55million price tag for Debenhams is too high - and questioned whether the department store's concessions including Clinique and Lancome will want to be associated with Boohoo after the sweatshop scandal.
Aged just 32, Umar Kamani's wealth has allowed him to buy a mansion, a fleet of cars, including two Rolls-Royce Phantoms, a £300,000 Lamborghini Aventador, a £92,000 customised G-Class Mercedes and a high-end Range Rover. Today he remembered simpler times when his family would visit Debenhams in Manchester in search of a bargain
A picture from Umar Kamani's Instagram on 18 April 2020 with the caption 'Isolationship' with Nada Adelle. Mr Kamani, son of Mahmud, is CEO & Founder PrettyLittleThing.com, known for his lavish lifestyle
Mr Kamani was only four when his Gujarati father Abdullah joined an exodus of Asians from Kenya where draconian employment laws prevented them from making a living. Pictured: Mahmud Kamani with his wife, parents and high-living children
Lockdown has seen the Boohoo brands make tens of millions more in profit and they hope the Debenhams stable will take them to the next level. Mahmud Kamani wants to be the Amazon for fast-fashion, beauty and homeware.
But it is a world away from the humble beginnings for the Kamani family, who have been hailed as one of the UK's great 'rags to riches' tales. Mahmud started out selling handbags on a Manchester market stall after arriving from India via Kenya.
PLT was founded by Mr Kamani's sons Adam and Umar in 2012 following the enormous success of their father's business and reported a turnover of £374million in 2018.
By 2022, the company is forecast to be worth around £2.1billion. The Boohoo Group bought a 34 per cent stake in PLT for £269.8 million in May.
Tatler named PLT co-founder Umar its eighth most eligible bachelor for 2019, alongside the Duke of Roxburghe and former One Direction star Harry Styles.
His lifestyle is decidedly jet-set, with his contacts book brimming with A-list stars such as Jennifer Lopez, rapper P Diddy and actor Denzel Washington.
Such is his self-belief that when he wanted to launch PLT in the US three years ago, he offered a six-figure sum to reality TV star Kylie Jenner, half-sister of Kim Kardashian, to appear in one of his £15 orange dresses.
Clive Black, retail analyst at Shore Capital, said the Debenhams deal - and the battle with Asos and the Issa brothers for the Arcadia brands - represented 'a volcano erupting' on British high streets. He said: 'We are seeing a massive reshaping of Britain's high streets all at once. The future of the high street is now up for grabs'. On Debenhams' concessions he added: 'It remains to be seen how they will mind being associated with a business connected to those kinds of labour processes'.
The fast-fashion retailer - owned by Mahmud Kamani (pictured left with Snoop Dogg, Boohoo CEO Carol Kane and his son Samir Kamani in 2018) - was thrust into the spotlight this year following accusations that its suppliers used sweatshop-style conditions in Leicester to produce cheap clothing during the Covid-19 pandemic. The business has now bought Debenhams
Mr Kamani, worth £1billion, is also fighting with online rival ASOS, run by Scotland's richest man Anders Holch Povlsen, left with with Anne and worth £6.1billion and Zuber and Mohsin Issa, who made their £3.56billion from petrol stations, to buy Topshop. ASOS appears to be in pole position, entering exclusive talks this morning but with no guarantee of a deal, the company said
These are the billionaires all vying to grab Topshop from the ashes of Sir Philip Green's Arcadia empire
In a big hint that Boohoo intends to take on the might of Amazon, the business said it would create the UK's largest marketplace across fashion, beauty, sport and homeware - expanding the range of products sold via Debenhams marketplace by maintaining current third party relationships and expanding further.
The Indian-born founder of fast-fashion company Boohoo grew his Manchester market stall into a £2.6billion business.
Before Boohoo shot onto the ever-growing fast fashion scene, its owner Mahmud Kamani, 55, sold handbags in traders' stall.
He spotted the potential of internet sales and set up his online retailer in 2006 with the aim of delivering their own-branded fashion at rock bottom prices.
It since became synonymous with the wildly popular, yet equally controversial, fast-fashion phenomenon.
Its sales topped £850 million in 2019, propelling Mr Kamani to 131st place on The Sunday Times Rich List, with a family fortune of £1.16 billion.
Mr Kamani's parents, who were originally from India, arrived in Manchester from Kenya in 1969 when his father was just two years old.
The Kamanis were forced to flee to Britain by increasing unrest and draconian employment laws that favoured native Kenyans.
Entrepreneurial Mahmud sold handbags on a market stall. He invested his money wisely in property and began a wholesale business, Pinstripe, sourcing garments from India.
By the early 2000s, the company was selling £50 million-worth a year to high street brands such as Topshop and Primark, which led to Mahmud setting up the Boohoo brand in 2006.
The company's growth quickly skyrocketed and is now believed to be worth £2billion or more and employing 2,352 people.
Boohoo has previously bought a number of well-known high street brands out of administration, turning them into online-only operations, including Oasis, Coast and Karen Millen.
Greg Lawless, retail analyst at Shore Capital, said: 'The big question in beauty is whether the big beauty brands - Clinique and Chanel - will remain with Boohoo longer term.
'The Debenhams number one position in premium beauty was predicated on counter sales, which will not form part of this acquisition.'
It came as a judge in the Insolvency and Companies court made an order winding up Debenhams.
Judge Daniel Schaeffer made the order at a hearing on Monday after describing the company as a 'rudderless ship' and said the official receiver should assess the position.
A spokeswoman for Debenhams stressed that the judge's decision to wind up the company would not affect the Boohoo deal.
The spokeswoman said the judge's winding up order and the Boohoo deal were 'separate' pieces of news.
She said the winding up order related to the 'old plc' and was not linked to the acquisition by Boohoo.
The purchase of the Debenhams brand by Boohoo ends more than two centuries on the British high street.
The brand started a liquidation process last month after failing to secure a last-minute rescue sale with JD Sports, putting 12,000 jobs at risk.
Earlier this month, Boohoo said group revenues jumped 40 per cent to £660.8 million on the back of strong Christmas and Black Friday sales.
Asos has had a good year after customers flocked to the trendy website via their mobile phones, leading to sales rising by 24pc to £1.36bn in the four months to December 31. In the UK, sales were up 36pc to £554.1m.
The company expects more of the same in 2021 and has ramped up profit expectations for the year ahead.
Many in the City had expected Asos to take a hit during lockdown and over the festive season as Christmas is traditionally when young women buy cocktail dresses and strappy heels.
Instead, the company nimbly changed its stock to focus on pyjamas and T-shirts, which have been in hot demand as customers are forced to stay at home.
In 2019 profits at Asos plunged by nearly 70% amid IT chaos at its overseas warehouses - but lockdown appears to have turned around their fortunes.
Today's deal will see Debenhams products sold by Boohoo later this year, allowing enough time for liquidators to continue closing the retailer's sites once they are allowed to reopen after Covid-19 lockdown restrictions are lifted.
But with stores closing across the 242-year-old brand, it is unlikely many of the remaining 12,000 jobs are likely to be saved.
Andy Brian, partner and head of retail at law firm Gordons: 'Boohoo's reported acquisition of the Debenhams brand and the news that ASOS appears to be a leading contender for Topshop bears out what I said last year – that brand acquisition by online retailers was always going to be the most likely outcome for many of the struggling high street fashion retailers.
'For too long the likes of Arcadia and Debenhams have been waiting for their customer to come to them, while other players such as Asos, Boohoo and Missguided have followed the customer where they want to go. The trend towards online shopping started years ago but it has accelerated in the last 12 months due to the pandemic.
'Ultimately, the cost of significant investment in updating back end systems and processes to drive efficiency and profitability was always going to be a barrier to keeping stores running. It's sad news for store workers, and for those shoppers who (in normal times) prefer that option, but the harsh reality is that both businesses simply haven't been able to attract as many of the latter as they needed.'
Simon Underwood, business recovery partner at accountancy firm, Menzies LLP, said: 'Debenhams has been left with no place to turn and nothing worth selling except intangible assets.
'The shift to ecommerce was happening well before the pandemic, but has accelerated significantly over the past year. It now seems unlikely that the High Street as we knew it will re-open any time soon, or ever. With plans in place for Debenhams to re-emerge in 2022, as an online-only retail brand, there can be no doubt where future trading opportunities lie.'
Debenhams had already announced significant job losses and the permanent closure of six stores, including its flagship outlet on London's Oxford Street.
Boohoo said the deal represents a 'fantastic opportunity' to target new customers and launch into the beauty, sports and homewares market for the first time.
The company highlighted how Debenhams has six million beauty shoppers and 1.4 million Beauty Club members.
It said: 'The group intends to rebuild and relaunch the Debenhams platform, helping further the group's stated ambition to lead the fashion eCommerce market, and grow into new categories including beauty, sport and homeware.'
Povlsen, 46, and Anne Storm Pedersen, pictured together, met when Anne began working in sales for Bestseller
Anders Holch Povlsen is the fabulously wealthy owner of the international fashion business Bestseller and the biggest shareholder in the British online fashion company ASOS.
He has the taste in fast cars and private jets you might expect from a man estimated to be worth £6.1 billion.
It is all a long way from the tiny Danish town of Brande, with a population of just 7,000, where Povlsen's father, Troels, opened the family's first clothes store in 1975.
Other outlets soon followed. And Anders was only 27 when Troels made him the sole owner of Bestseller.
By 2007, it was so successful that supermodel Gisele Bundchen was hired to promote it.
Partial to a single malt and locally brewed real ale, he is known to visit local pubs in Scotland but rarely says much about himself.
Bestseller employs 15,000 people and boasts nearly 6,000 shops. He owns brands such as Jack & Jones and Vero Moda, and 27 per cent of ASOS.com, Britain's biggest internet fashion retailer.
There was tragedy in 2018 when three of his four children were killed in the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka. Alfred, Alma and Agnes all died.
Debenhams' own fashion brands will also be absorbed into Boohoo's current portfolio and sold via the Debenhams website.
Boohoo chief executive John Lyttle said: 'The acquisition of the Debenhams brand is an important development for the group, as we seek to capture incremental growth opportunities arising from the accelerating shift to online retail.'
Debenhams' administrator, FRP Advisory, has been continuing to talk with third parties over the potential sales of all or parts of the historic retail business.
Boohoo is also understood to be in the running to purchase Topshop, Topman and Miss Selfridge after they too were placed in administration in a brutal year for Britain's high streets.
The fast-fashion retailer - founded by Mahmud Kamani - was thrust into the spotlight this year following accusations its suppliers used sweatshop-style conditions in Leicester to produce cheap clothing during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Workers in a Leicester factory packing clothes destined for Boohoo were being paid far below the minimum wage.
Undercover reporters also found the factory operating during the city's localised lockdown without social distancing measures in place.
The scandal caused the firm's shares to plunge by £1.3 billion and prompted a wave of condemnation from politicians and members of the public.
But the company appears to have bounced back as wide-spread lockdown rules saw non-essential shops shut and shoppers rush to buy online.
Experts have predicted that ASOS will win the race for Topshop.
Chloe Collins, Senior Apparel Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, said: 'ASOS would by far be the most complementary new owner for Topshop, Topman and Miss Selfridge. The brands are already popular sellers through its third-party platform, proving that there is strong customer overlap, and ASOS' impressive global reach would help the Arcadia brands target new shoppers. Though ASOS would not take on any stores, and it is unclear whether it would keep the brands' websites or simply use exclusivity to boost its own platform, the retailer's digital prowess will aid the brands in gaining top of mind appeal, as they have so far fell behind online competition.
'The fact that ASOS is willing to buy three of Arcadia's brands should also give it an edge, as other interest has centred around the Topshop brand only'.
Debenhams became one of the largest high street casualties at the end of last year after rescue talks with JD Sport fell through.
The chain had been in administration since April, but when any hopes of a rescue were dashed, it drew a line under 242 years of trading.
They were brought up in a terraced house after their father came to Britain to work in the textiles industry.
Four decades on, Mohsin and Zuber Issa's journey from the back streets of Blackburn to the top of the property ladder appears complete.
The self-made billionaires, who own Euro Garages, Europe's biggest independent forecourt firm, have recently bought a £25million Knightsbridge mansion.
Their woollen mill worker father Vali and mother Zubeda were living at a two-up, two-down terraced house on Balaclava Street in Blackburn when Mohsin and Zuber were born in the early 1970s.
Euro Garages has a partnership with a several household name brands, including Spar, Greggs, Burger King, Subway and Starbucks.
It was founded by brothers, Zuber Issa and Mohsin Issa in 2001 with a single petrol filling station in Bury, Greater Manchester.
Just 15 years ago they were working in a petrol station in Halifax, doing the stock-taking and cleaning the toilets among other things.
They took a lease on a local garage with their combined savings of £5,000 and today they control a business with an estimated value of some £3.56billion.
It followed a bruising year for the high street which saw Sir Philip Green's Arcadia group also collapse.
Arcadia, which owns Topshop, Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins and Burton, tipped into administration, putting 13,000 jobs at risk.
Arcadia's concessions, including Topshop and Dorothy Perkins, were worth £75million-a-year in sales to Debenhams.
The collapse set off a domino effect, with JD Sports pulling out of talks to buy Debenhams.
Experts called the collapse of the two giants at the end of last year one of the most 'devastating' weeks in the history of British retail.
Up to 25,000 workers were put at risk of redundancy in the space of 12 hours.
The number of job losses was so large it equated to losing the entire labour force of the UK fishing industry overnight.
It came in addition to thousands of other job losses as a result of the pandemic, which has pushed businesses across all sectors to breaking point.
Peacocks and Jaeger, which are owned by the Edinburgh Woolen Mill Group, fell into administration last month, putting 21,000 jobs at risk.
Laura Ashley went bust in March while fashion giants Oasis and Warehouse fell into administration in April.
It comes amid concerns that Paperchase is on the brink of administration after Covid-19 restrictions placed 'unbearable strain' on the card and gift retailer's Christmas sales.
The stationery chain, which usually makes 40 per cent of its annual sales over November and December, was particularly hit by lockdown measures over the festive period.
Approximately 1,500 jobs and 173 stores are on the line for the retailer, who appointed accountancy firm PwC to handle the administration process.
It was announced at the start of December that all Debenhams stores were to close for good after last-ditch attempts to save the retailer failed.
Geoff Rowley, joint administrator for Debenhams and partner of FRP Advisory, said: "We are pleased to have secured the future for this great brand, and to have created the opportunity for a new Debenhams-branded business to emerge in a different shape beyond the pandemic.
"I expect that the agreement with Boohoo may provide some job opportunities but we regret that this outcome does not safeguard the jobs of Debenhams' employees beyond the winding-down period."
It was today revealed that Asos has emerged as the frontrunner to buy Topshop, Topman and Miss Selfridge after they were placed in administration.
The online fashion retailer is keen to acquire the brands from the administrators of Sir Philip Green's Arcadia Group - which also owns Dorothy Perkins and Burton.
Asos is competing against rivals including Boohoo Group, U.S. retailer Authentic Brands Group, which is working with JD Sports Fashion Plc, and Chinese fashion group Shein, Sky News reported.
However the company only wants to acquire the brands and not the stores - therefore casting speculation that a deal could put jobs at risk.
The company is currently in the lead to buy the Topshop brand for more than £250million, according to Sky.
The billionaire brothers Zuber and Mohsin Issa, who recently bought the supermarket chain Asda, have also been locked in secret talks to buy Topshop.
On Thursday, Retailer Next Plc said it had pulled out of the bidding for Topshop and Topman after it was unable to meet the price expectations of the collapsed fashion chains.
Administrators at Deloitte, who were drafted in to find bidders for the businesses following a slump in sales, are expected to sell the brands by next month.
Last year the Arcadia Group, which runs 444 stores in the UK and 22 overseas, was hammered by store closures amid the pandemic.
The administrators said they would 'asses all options available' but would continue to honour all online orders and operate all of its current sales channels.
The company's financial success follows a newly-published report claiming Boohoo is making 'excellent progress' to ensure its suppliers have have suitable factory conditions. Pictured: Workers at the Faiza Fashion factory in Leicester last year
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The High Street has been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic as people were told to stay inside for several national lockdowns.
High Street stalwarts such as Debenhams, WH Smith and Clarks did not escape the bloodbath.
In August 228-year-old business WH Smith said a dramatic fall in sales could force them to axe around 11 per cent of its workforce.
It was a grim announcement for an already hammered high street after hundreds of jobs were also cut at high street fashion chain M&Co.
The chain also announced the closure of 47 stores, taking the number of workers facing redundancy as a result of the Covid crisis above 100,000.
Within one week over the summer 651 roles were lost at Byron, 1,700 put at risk at DW Sports, 878 lost at Hays Travel and 1,100 put at risk at Pizza Express.
John Lewis cut a further 1,500 jobs, adding to the 1,300 axed when it permanently shut eight stores in July.
The retail giant was widely seen as a benchmark for High Street performance in the UK.
Lloyds Bank also announced their decision to make 1,070 more staff redundant on top of the 865 earlier in the pandemic.
Within the same 24 hours Marks & Spencer also reported its first loss in its 94 years as a listed company. The company had already cut 8,000 staff since March.
And Sainsbury’s also confirmed it would cut around 3,500 jobs across its Argos stores and supermarket meat, fish and deli counters, while Clarks shoes put the jobs of all 4,000 of its store staff on notice as part of its fight for survival.
Online fashion giant Asos has confirmed it is in exclusive talks with administrators for Sir Philip Green's Arcadia retail empire.
The company said the ongoing discussions are about snapping up Arcadia's brands including Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT, sold via Burtons.
Asos said in a short statement to the London Stock Exchange: 'The board believes this would represent a compelling opportunity to acquire strong brands that resonate well with its customer base.
'However, at this stage, there can be no certainty of a transaction and Asos will keep shareholders updated as appropriate. Any acquisition would be funded from cash reserves.'
Asos does not have a high street presence, so any deal is unlikely to include saving the Arcadia stores, which could close for good, leaving the brands trading online only.
Lucy Powell MP, Labour's Shadow Minister for Business and Consumers, said: 'Seeing stores vanish from high streets across Britain will be a real blow to communities across our country, and it will be absolutely devastating for the 25,000 people who face losing their job.
'The pandemic has accelerated changes to the way we shop, yet the government continues to disadvantage bricks and mortar businesses against online companies.
'The support on offer for struggling businesses has been a series of sticking plasters. Unless the Government puts in place a long-term plan to help high street businesses survive this crisis and recover on the other side, we will see more well-loved high street names vanishing, and many more jobs lost.'
Retail trade union Usdaw said it would seek an urgent meeting with Arcadia's administrators in an attempt to save jobs and ensure staff were treated fairly as Sir Philip's retail empire went bust.
Business secretary Alok Sharma also said he would keep a 'very close eye' on the administrators' report on director conduct, and pledged the Government would support the affected workers.
In a statement, Arcadia chief executive Ian Grabiner said at the time: 'In the face of the most difficult trading conditions we have ever experienced, the obstacles we encountered were far too severe.'
He added: 'This is an incredibly sad day for all of our colleagues as well as our suppliers and our many other stakeholders.
'Our stores will remain open or reopen when permitted under the Government Covid-19 restrictions, our online platforms will be fully operational and supplies to all of our partners will continue.'
Sir Brian Leveson, famed for his inquiry into the press eight years ago, published his first report on Boohoo's supply chain overhaul a fortnight ago.
Last year Boohoo was exposed for sweat shop style conditions and low pay at the Leicester factories it uses.
Following the revelations retired judge Leveson was hired in November to oversee Boohoo's so-called 'Agenda for Change' with accountants KPMG tasked with independently tracking its progress.
As part of the agenda the company has been reviewing its UK supply chain across the UK and internationally to replace bad actors with alternative ethical suppliers.
So far Boohoo has removed 64 suppliers from its UK roster.
Mahmud Kamani, the executive chairman who was singled out for criticism in a previous report after giving evidence while taking breakfast on a luxury hotel balcony, said he was 'immensely proud' of the speed of change at the company and added: 'The team has worked to effect change during such a challenging period for the group, and it's encouraging to see our progress acknowledged in the report.'
Meanwhile Matt Smith, joint administrator at Deloitte, said: 'We will now work with the existing management team and broader stakeholders to assess all options available for the future of the group's businesses.
'It is our intention to continue to trade all of the brands and we look forward to welcoming customers back into stores when many of them are allowed to reopen.
'We will be rapidly seeking expressions of interest and expect to identify one or more buyers to ensure the future success of the businesses.'
Earlier this month, Asos announced it would invest £90million in a new centre after annual profits quadrupled last year.
The retailer plans to open the centre in Lichfield, Staffordshire, within 12 months and will employ 2,000 people at the site over the next three years.
The 437,000 square feet, AEW and Allianz Real Estate joint venture warehouse at Fradley Park will open within 12 months and will be fully operational by 2023, Asos said in a statement.
Following its supply chain scandal last year, Mr Kamani, founder and group executive chairman of Boohoo, commissioned a report which was carried out by Alison Levitt QC.
The report found the firm had not intentionally profited from poor working conditions and low pay, and had committed no criminal offences - but it did identify 'many failings' and concluded Boohoo had not taken sufficient responsibility for those involved in producing its clothes.
Boohoo said 64 companies have been removed from its UK supplier list as a result.
Mr Kamani appointed Sir Brian Leveson, who chaired the public inquiry into the culture and practices of the press, to oversee Boohoo's so-called 'Agenda for Change' with the accountants KPMG tasked with independently tracking its progress.
It has since published its first independent report by Sir Brian, which says Boohoo is making 'excellent progress' to put in pace Ms Levitt's recommendations.
There are 226 stores and more than 1200 employees. It is owned as a separate business by Philip Day, whose EWM is also in crisis (see below).
Philip Day put this company into administration a few months ago, and reaquired it via a pre-pack. It is thought unlikely that he will do this again a second time.
The company has gone into administration twice in the past two years and, with the failure of Arcadia (see next item), whose concessions took up a large proportion of Debenhams' sales area, the Company's future looks very bleak. It is expected that all stores will trade until Christmas, after which the contents of every store will all be sold off, its staff made redundant and the premises vacated or transferred to new owners if other companies acquire some or all of the estate.
The Debenhams' name goes back to 1778, when William Clark established a drapery store at 44 Wigmore Street. It became Clark and Debenham in 1813, when Wm Debenham invested in the firm. The first store outside London was opened in Cheltenham in 1818. It became Debenham & Freebody in 1851.
In 1919 it took over Marshall & Snelgrove, another department store chain, and bought Harvey Nicholas in 1920. In 1985 it was acquired by the Burton Group (later renamed Arcadia), was de-merged in 1998, acquired by private-equity consortium Baroness Retail in 2003 and become a public company again in 2006. Private equity funds in the form of TPG, CVC Capital and Merrill Lynch paid themselves £1.2bn in dividends as a reward for owning the business for only three years and increasing its debt from £100m to £1,000m.
A sale and lease-back of 23 stores raised almost £495m for the temporary owners and saddled the business with long-term leases of up to 35 years.
In the past 35 years it has had a variety of owners none of which was fundamentally committed to the future of Debenhams Group or was able to introduce a coherent long-term strategy. Debenhams has not been the only retail victim this year of this approach.
These are all well-known brands. The administrators are allowing the stores and the website to continue to trade while new purchasers for the business(es) are found. There are around 440 stores and perhaps 12,000+ staff.
The heyday of Philip Green's Arcadia was probably 2004-2007, but it failed to invest sufficiently in shops, IT or modern designs. Its dinner has been eated by upstarts like Primark, BooHoo, Zara, Next and even by grocery clothing lines.
For some years, the company has lacked a clear sense of direction and suffered from low investment and an unwillingness to develop its online sales. It has cut its store numbers by more than half since 2012. Comparatively staid business like John Lewis and Next have heavily invested in their online operations and now produce half their sales online.
So this could have worked for Arcadia, if it had been attempted. Large amounts have been taken out of the business in the form of dividend payments.
More public interest has been generated by the Greens' luxury cruisers than by any innovation in Arcadia's shops. There is anxiety about whether the pension assets of the Arcadia Group are sufficient to pay pensions for its past and current employees.
Administration means that debts owed by Arcadia to landlords and suppliers will probably be repaid at perhaps only 1%-2% of what is owed. Apart from the effect of the Arcadia crash on its own shops and employees, its failure will be a hammer blow for many suppliers and property owners.
It has already caused JD Sports to pull of out its acquisition discussions with the Debenhams Department Store chain, because so much of Debenhams' floor space is given over to Arcadia concessions many of which may not survive after Christmas. An offer by Mike Ashley of a lifeline to keep Arcadia as a going concern was rejected.
Arcadia would probably have been in trouble at some time in 2021-22, but the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the closure of non-essential stores in Lockdown 1.0 and Lockdown 2.0 have become a death sentence for this group of businesses, giving it no chance to recover or adopt more successful strategies.
Discussions on behalf of both companies continue. Jaeger's business is more formal: it has around 76 stores and concessions employing 347 staff. Peacocks approach is more at the value end of the market: it has 423 stores and more than 4,200 staff. Both companies have gone through administration before.
Both suffer from the decline in spending on clothing, the switch to online purchases by shoppers, the two lockdowns and threatened additional lockdowns in 2021, which make the future of fashion chains hard to gauge.
Eight hundred and sixty-six staff are to be made redundant. EWM Group has been given another fortnight to determine the future of the Group, but it is likely that there will be further store closures and redundancies. Meanwhile the search for buyers for the EWM chains, inlcuding EWM, Peacocks, Ponden Mill, Jaeger and other brands continues.
EWM Group subsidiaries operate more than 1,000 stores and have 21,000 employees. The firm is a (previously) well-established company that bought a number of brands such as Jaeger, Austin Reed and Jane Norman from administrators.
It is owned by Philip Day. He owns Bonmarché separately from EWM Group, although their stores have also put up 'closing down sale' notices in store windows.
It was hit very hard by the coronavirus lockdown, needing to pay rent on almost one thousand properties with zero income.
So far the company has only reopened a little more than about one-half of its outlets after Lockdown I and they are all closed again following Lockdown II. Its orientation towards an older market, tourists, and market-town Mill-type general products attractive to people on shopping trips has been severely hit in 2020 (and possiby into 2021 as well). The store numbers figures quoted here are on the high side and rather dated, but EWM Group has 384 Edinburgh Woollen Mill stores and other shops trading as Peacocks (479), Bonmarché (220), Ponden Mill (65), James Pringle (and other names) (88 stores) and 27 stores combining several EWM fascias.
It is almost certain that a proportion will close. Apart from its sheer scale, the importance of Edinburgh Woollen Mill has been that in the last few years Philip Day has been the only entrepreneur actively buying distressed retailers apart from Mike Ashley's Sports Direct (now Frasers Group).
This is understood to have been done to prevent any creditor taking action against them in the period when Debs is up for sale and trying to find a new owner.
It is said that interest is overdue on £200m of loans made to Celine: administration would mean there would be no need to pay it. Any administration of Celine would not affect Debenhams store operation per se.
The covid-19 lockdown cost the firm more than £50m: in its last financial year profits fell by 40% to £3.6m. Forty-seven stores are to close (380 redundancies) as part of its recovery plan. The company was established in 1961.
The company's outlets - as non-essential retailers - have been closed since lockdown started: its 73 gyms were about to re-open until the change in government policy that postponed the resumption of trading by gymnasia, bowling alleys etc.
There are 75 DW Sports retail stores: these will all close in four weeks. The Group has a total of 1,700 employees. Twenty-five stores have closed already.
The Fitness First Group which is also owned by Dave Whelan is not to go into administration: its 43 clubs will remain trading.
None of its stores is to reopen after the easing of lockdown. It will become online only, probably with concessions in Dreams.
Outstanding orders will be honoured. The Company was rumoured last February to be up for sale, so these closures are not strictly caused by coronavirus, although being closed for three months would not have helped its chances of survival.
All its seven stores are closed as the company sees its retail future as online only. This administration does not affect the wholesaling and online arms of the business.
It won't be included in our UK figures, but, under U.S. law the corporation will be required to produce an exit plan to revamp the company. This may well have implications for UK stores. The stores continue to trade.
One hundred and thirty-five staff amongst its 170 employees have already been made redundant. Their business has been hit by the pandemic.
In addition their customers (ie the retailers) were unable to make firm commitments about work they needed in 2020, H2, into 2021.
The impact of covid-19 upon retailers has meant that most companies are now unsure about the number, type and location of stores that they are going to need in 2021-2025. The collapse of work for Cardinal is a symptom of the bloodbath on the high street.
Most of the company's stores opened for trading in July, but eight shops have been closed. Soletrader's website is a separate entity and is unaffected by the liquidation.
Since then the former Norville laboratories, which were renowned for being able to produce lens to the very highest standard, have been acquired from administration by Inspecs, the new owener of the Norville Group, and continue to trade.
Alteri bought the business out immediately and put £25m into the company to invest in its development. There are 242 stores and 1,900 staff. Bensons (at present) is seen as a much better business than Harveys, most UK bedding is made in the UK, it faces less competition from overseas operators and Alteri is likely to focus on improving its operations, while keeping Harveys Furniture stable. The company continues to trade and existing orders will be fulfilled.
There are 105 stores, which have been struggling for some years, and 1,575 staff. The company is looking to close 20 stores and make 240 staff redundant. The company continues to trade and existing orders will be satisfied.
The shops have not re-opened following the relaxation of the lockdown. The busines had been acquired from Bain private equity only last month (May). The new owners, SCP Private Equity, expect to close all the stores, making the company online only. Six hundred employees are likely to lose their jobs.
Most of its 450 workforce has been made redundant. Bertrams was particularly important to smaller publishing companies.
Changes in the book market in the last 20 years including the growth of online sales and dramatic price cutting, highly-promoted 'blockbusters', the growth of Amazon and direct-to-customer applications as well as e-books adversely affected Bertram Books' business model. But that is not all.
Sub-optimal decision-making by a succession of uncommitted owners have brought it down. Bertrams started in 1968 in a chicken shed in Elsie Bertram's garden as a project for her and her son. By 1999, when it was first sold, Mrs Bertram was 86, Bertrams was the second-largest book wholesaler in the UK, and it employed 700 people.
In 2007, it was bought by the Woolworths Group and went into administration with the rest of the Company before being bought by Smiths News, the magazine/newspaper distributor of W H Smith. In 2018 it was bought by Aurelius, a German private equity group, who later sold Wordery, Bertram's online operation, to the Waterstone's book chain and Bertram's library division to an Italian business.
The coronavirus pandemic, closing both libraries and bookshops, proved to be the final blow for Bertram Books. Was all this inevitable? Probably not.
It has total debts of £4.5bn, a merger with a European propery company came to nothing and it has failed to raise more capital. Its recent negotations with other parties, where it hoped to arrange a 'standstill agreement' with its lenders, led to no useful outcome, so it went into administration.
Major sites include Lakeside, Glasgow's Braehead, Manchester's Trafford Centre, Nottingham's Victoria Centre and Norwich's Chapelfield. This administration will be a major blow to the UK retail sector, although, coming after many other impossible-to-believe 'major blows', its significance may be less apparent.
It may not be possible for the Admiinistrators to run all the shopping centres without outside funding, although so far all sites have been kept open. It is still possible that many of their shopping centres will close unless a new potential buyer acquires some or all of them.
Some observers who have used the lockdown to re-think their personal philosophy may rejoice at the decline of this bastion of consumerism.
But the destruction of asset wealth in terms of commercial property, will adversely affect property prices, the stability of most retailers, pension funds, shares, unit trusts, tax revenue, job opportunities etc etc and bring home to the public the enormity of the slump we have managed to stumble into.
It was immediately bought out of administration by J D Sports for £56.5m (pre-pack administration), enabling hte company to be reorganised. J D Sports has stated that it wishes needs to re-think the Go Outdoors business but does not expect large-scale redundancies and closures.
There are 2,400 employees and 67 stores. Since the firm was bought by JD Sports it has lost £291m (to August 2019) and the massive losses caused by the coronavirus lockdown have only worsened the situation. In July, the Administrators estimated that unsecured creditors would receive only 1p in the £1.
There are six stores, mostly in the Midlands. Lee Longlands was purchased via a management buy-out in 2015. The company started in Broad Street Bham as an antiques business in 1902.
The Poundstretcher Group has argued that around 250 stores will close if the CVA is not approved by its creditors. Poundstrecher Properties holds the leases on only 23 stores and this will not affect the legal position or ownership of the group as a whole. Poundstretcher faces the same issues as the rest of the high street, compounded by the lockdown, now in its 85th day (it is really that long?).
There are 105 showrooms and 1,491 empoyees. The business continues still to trade, but the new owner expects to rationalise the business, probably through the closure of some stores and reductions in staff.
The new owners expect to negotiate T&C with the landlords of the remaining 16 properties, and the results may lead of course to further closures.
Monsoon Accessorize was immediately bought out of administration by Peter Simon. Thirty-five stores are to be closed with 545 employees being made redundant.
The business had 181 stores and 2,534 UK staff before administration. It is understood that Monsoon does not expect that every landlord will agree to the new conditions, but hopes to save around 100 stores and 2,300 jobs. The stores are based on careful, edited retailing which only encountered problems in the last decade.
In 2019 the company survived a previous crisis through a large cash injection from its owner, the closure of 40 stores and a CVA that cut rents on three-quarters of its stores.
The group's survival after the current crisis will also depend upon how readily shoppers will return to physical stores post-coronavirus and by how much their tastes and buyer behaviour will have changed in this new environment. Monsoon's international business is unaffected, with 49 stores and 966 staff outside the UK.
Source: Centre for Retail Research
Debenhams has been a mainstay on UK high streets for 242 years, but is now set to shut its doors for good.
In 1778 William Clark opened a drapers store on 44 Wigmore Street in central London, selling expensive fabrics, bonnets, gloves and parasols.
The business had a modest start in life, with Mr Clark continuing to run the single store until meeting a potential investor.
William Debenham formed a partnership with the store owner in 1813, pumping funds into the business which then became Clark & Debenham.
Five years later it opened its first store outside the capital, in Cheltenham, and started to dramatically expand.
The business became Clark & Debenham, after William Clark opened a drapers store in 1778 on 44 Wigmore Street in London. Mr Clark had initially opened the shop selling expensive fabrics, bonnets, gloves and parasols, before it was renamed
Shoppers are seen charging through the doors of a Debenhams department store on the first day of the sales in 1977
Penny Lancaster models Ultimo lingerie at Debenhams on Oxford Street in October 2002 (left), while Kim Kardashian launches her 'True Reflection' fragrance range at a Debenhams store in London ten years later in May 2012
Shoppers browse for bargains at a Debenhams department store at the start of its sale on December 27, 1977
When Clement Freebody invested in the firm in 1851 it was renamed Debenham & Freebody, and continued to grow by snapping up smaller rivals and expanding its wholesale operations.
Acquisitions continued into the next century and in 1905 Debenhams Ltd was formed.
After the First World War ended, the retailer merged with Marshall & Snellgrove, and in 1920 purchased Knightsbridge retailer Harvey Nichols.
Seven years later the Debenham family exited the business as it was listed on the London Stock exchange.
By 1950, Debenhams was the largest department store group in the UK, owning 84 companies and 110 stores.
In 1985 Debenhams merged to become part of Burton Group, which soon rebranded as Arcadia, before splitting away 13 years later after a period of rapid store expansion and the launch of its first international franchise sites.
William Debenham (above) formed a partnership with drapers store owner William Clark in 1813, pumping funds into the business which then became Clark & Debenham. Five years later it opened its first store outside the capital, in Cheltenham
Bargain hunters burst into Debenhams department store at 9am on December 27, 1977 for the start of the winter sales
Following demerger from the Burton Group, Debenhams was listed on the London Stock Exchange until 2003, when it was acquired by Baroness Retail.
Baroness, backed by private equity firms CVC Capital Partners and Texas Pacific Group, started to strip the company's assets, including a £450 million sale and leaseback of 26 properties and internal cost-cutting.
Three years later, Baroness almost tripled its value as it was floated on the stock market, but the retail group was now weighed down by a portfolio hamstrung with expensive rental agreements.
Nevertheless, Debenhams continued to grow, acquiring nine stores from Roches in the Republic of Ireland in 2007 and Magasin du Nord, the leading department store chain in Denmark, two years after.
The company also had a partnerships with Michelle Mone's Ultimo bra company in the 2000s, which led to a series of photoshoots with glamour models inside its stores.
In 2014, after a decline in company profits, retail tycoon Mike Ashley bought 4.6 per cent of the company's shares.
A Debenhams store in Manchester is pictured in 1981. In 1985 Debenhams merged to become part of Burton Group, which soon rebranded as Arcadia, before splitting away 13 years later
The Debenhams store at Luton in Bedfordshire is pictured in July 1987
He steadily increased his ownership of the department store business, expanding it to 29.7 per cent by 2018.
However, the business had now felt the full effect of difficult high street conditions and sky-high rents, resulting in a £491 million pre-tax loss in 2018.
By April of 2019, the retail giant entered administration and delisted from the stock market.
It undertook a major restructuring, designed to restore it to its former glory, but now appears likely to disappear for good after Christmas, after entering liquidation.
Now, Debenhams is to start a liquidation process after JD Sports confirmed it had pulled out of a possible rescue deal, putting 12,000 workers at risk.
The 242-year-old department store chain said its administrators have 'regretfully' decided to start winding down operations while continuing to seek offers 'for all or parts of the business'.
Michelle Mone opens the Ultimo lingerie brand's first concession at Debenhams in Liverpool in 2015
A Debenhams fashion campaign in 2010 featuring Shannon Murray who had been using a wheelchair since her teens
A person walks past a boarded up Debenhams on Oxford Street on April 16 during the first coronavirus lockdown of the year
It is understood that the collapse of rescue talks were partly linked to the administration of Arcadia Group, which is the biggest operator of concessions in Debenhams stores.
Debenhams said it will continue to trade through its 124 UK stores and online to clear its current and contracted stocks.
'On conclusion of this process, if no alternative offers have been received, the UK operations will close,' the company said in statement.
Debenhams has already axed 6,500 jobs across its operation due to heavy cost-cutting after it entered administration for the second time in 12 months.
Arcadia tumbled into insolvency on Monday evening, casting a shadow over its own 13,000 workers and 444 stores.
The sweat shop in Leicester will be even busier
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