Following Mike Ashley Debenhams is understandable | Debenhams

“LMike will never work with the founder of Sports Direct. Mike Ashley, for his persistent anger, lost $ 150 million to himself and his partners in the first attempt to gain control of Debenhams. He was forced to show up at the administrator’s door at 11am Take another look. Also, strangely enough, you see why he is still being tested if he can see the slim deal.

First, J.D. Sports clearly thought There was something recoverable from the financial collapse. Peter Gag, managing director of a sportswear retailer, has no mug. The Pentland Group, which owns 55% of the group, also did not support Debenhams’ policy in principle. At the event, JD walked out when other stakeholders threw a match, but the interest of the well-considered FTSE 100 competitor was puzzling.

Second, the department store chain is now a slightly different beast that Ashley has been foolishly following. Most of the rigorous leases have been converted into turnover-based rental arrangements, which change the profile of fixed costs. It is still impossible from the outside to say whether the new lease terms are attractive to a new owner (actual percentage of revenue matters), but it costs nothing to ask the question.

One has to assume that Ashley would not be remotely interested in owning all 124 Deb stores permanently. Just like he bought Fraser House, He will see if he can get more discounts from the landlords and then select and select the sites. But, even in today’s high street climate, 40 or more Debs stores need to be in decent locations to trade or change their current form.

The warnings of Ashley and Fraser should be taken seriously about “uncertainty” and “lack of time”. Feels like any deal with the manager will be done in days, or not. But, in view of saving a few thousand jobs, any interest is better than anything.

Kingfisher has done the right thing

Good Kingfisher, The latest retailer that will refund its business rates free of charge from the treasury – amounting to 130 million m.

The group is getting a little extra credit due to the closure of its P&Q and Scroofix stores for a few weeks in the early stages of the first national lockout. But since a DIY mini-boom is quickly followed, a refund is clearly the right way to go. Kingfisher’s shares, after an exciting ride, have risen to a quarter since the beginning of this year.

So what a message Travis Perkins, Owner of Wikis and Toolstation? Both brands enjoyed DIY fun: quarterly sales rose 18% and 25%, respectively, in the October update.

For now, Travis Perkins uses M&S / John Lewis Security, we can call it, and point out problems in other areas of its business – especially the business segment of its large builders, where the benefits of recovery in the home building and construction markets are not yet realized.

“The crisis is far from over, so we will continue to monitor the situation,” said Travis Perkins. For now, that position is secure, but business rates on Wikis and Toolstation are out of the question. Do not monitor indefinitely.

The nationwide story is not over yet

There is an auction or half auction every fifteen rounds across the country, or so it feels.

Alchemy Partners, a private equity firm, began the operations of the UK’s largest estate agents when it injected $ 90 million in capital at $ 135 billion a share. This was found to be very low even for a single business in the form of nationwide debt. Connells, owned by the Skipton Building Society, quickly proved itself with a clean cash offer of 250p.

Alchemy then came up with a restructured version that allowed shareholders to escape at 250p if they wished, or hung up on a recapitalization effort to recover. Now Connells is back with the 325p offer.

The law of small numbers applies here, it must be said. Connells’ new bid values ​​are only $ 2,122 million nationwide, up from the previous high of b1 billion five years ago, before being bitten back by excessive expansion. Still, some improvement from 135p to 325p during the auction war – and we don’t know if the alchemy is over yet.

Think: The first offer in October was unanimously recommended by a nationwide committee. Didn’t anyone tell executive chairman Peter Long that he should make excuses and leave when he took action, that he might reach a slightly higher goal?

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