sp29 Jul 2019 14:07
Do people honestly think after pat val that Grant Thornton would of rushed into clearing £600m in potential tax liabilities unless they knew with near 100% certainty that it wouldn't come to fruition after less then a day of reviewing?
Flannels although a tiny part of the business is booming is is primarily online driven, Sports Direct are holding their sales give or take 1-2% with margins actually increasing.
HOF is garbage but they recognise this, they havent announced pouring millions into it, theyve recognised the loss makers and are acting accordingly. My local HoF ( Beatties wolverhampton) is up for sale for £3m, they have 50+ HoF sites....do the match ( yes i know they dont own every building). HOF will probably be kept to about 10-15 of the best stores just for high street visibility with a push to online sales as the brand name is still well recognised, There is also procurement benefits in shared products across the premium brands like Flannels.
You will start to see stores opening similar to Next which has been fantastic, large retail space with space taken up for coffee shops, virgin holidays, card shops, but for SPD, a small game, flannels in HoF stores with SPD.
Strong negotiating power on the high street for rent, SPD is going nowhere but up.