Sosandar Share News (SOS)

(Sharecast News) - Women's fashion brand Sosandar has agreed a partnership with Marks & Spencer, part of a concerted effort by the high street retailer to bolster its online offering.
Under the deal, Sosandar will sell a selection of its products through M&S as a third-party online retailer from late March.

The Aim-listed online retailer is seeking to improve its sales and earnings as well as increase brand awareness through a number of third-party partnerships. The deal with M&S is its third with a big name high street retailer after it agreed deals with John Lewis and Next last year. Sosandar said sales from these deals to date had been strong, including a "record" month in February.

Marks & Spencer, meanwhile, is looking to expand its offering by selling a wider selection of brands online. Along with Sosandar, it has signed deals with Hobbs, Joules, Sloggi, Seasalt Cornwall and White Stuff, among others. It also acquired the Jaeger brand out of administration earlier this year.

Neil Harrison, director of brands at M&S, said the move was intended to help "turbocharge" online growth. The offering will be sold and marketed under the banner Brands at M&S.

Sosandar said: "This milestone agreement demonstrates the ever-growing appeal of our offering to our target market and the potential Sosandar has to expand through third party brands."

As at 1100 GMT, shares in Sosandar were ahead 6% at 18.62p, while M&S was largely flat at 157.37p.

Shore Capital said: "The M&S partnership should allow Sosandar to further increase brand awareness across a relatively similar customer demographic and so help drive incremental sales and position the Sosandar business to become cash generative over time, especially once more normal trading conditions return, and the business continues to scale up."

Shore Capital is broker and nomad to Sosandar.