Sears `not to sell Freemans'
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Sears, the retail group that includes Selfridges and British Shoe Corporation, yesterday denied claims it plans to sell its Freemans catalogue business.
However the company admitted that it was considering replacing SBC Warburg as its merchant banker and has been holding meetings with other banks about a possible switch.
Many City analysts believe the Sears conglomerate sprawls over too many formats and that 3,000 stores is too many for management to keep a firm grip upon.
The company has been radically pruning the number of formats in its British Shoe division to concentrate on four or five names such as Shoe Express, Dolcis and Hush Puppy.
The number of Saxone stores will be reduced and Sears is also keen to off-load many of the high street Olympus sports stores which have been losing money. Many have speculated that Selfridges may be sold off.
Freemans, however, is a possible disposal candidate as the mail order group has been finding trading tough. Its profits have improved but the division still performs poorly compared with other mail order giants.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments