Edinburgh Woollen Mill has closed its concessions in 30 House of Fraser stores, affecting Berwin & Berwin, Jaeger, Jane Norman and the Calvetron Brands portfolio, which is recently acquired, with immediate effect. The concessions will remain staffed in the short term so as to prevent any stock from being removed or sold. Berwin & Berwin supplies House of Fraser with some of its own brand products and supply of this stock has also been affected. It is being rumoured that this move is in response to a breakdown in negotiations between Mike Ashley and Philip Day over the future trading relationship between their two businesses. Day had been interested in acquiring the entire House of Fraser chain, but lost out to Ashley. He has since been alleged to have made offers for some of the House of Fraser stores.
Meanwhile Mike Ashley is calling for an investigation of House of Fraser’s former directors, alleging mismanagement, in the light of the considerable debts incurred with suppliers which are affecting his opportunity to get the chain back into profitable trading. Whilst Paul Mckie of Fashion Collective has made an official complaint against Ernst & Young who handled the sale of the department store chain to Sports Direct. Mckie’s own bid for the chain was rejected prior to the administration. It is understood that Philip Day has also been critical of Ernst & Young’s handling of the sale to Ashley, as his firm’s offer of £100 million would have included all supplier and pension liabilities, whereas Sports Direct paid £90 million without taking on any of the liabilities.
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