Mike Ashley backs challenge to Debenhams rescue deal

A deal that saved Debenhams from administration will be challenged in the High Court this week, putting the retailer’s future back into doubt.

A commercial landlord – backed by Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct group – is fighting the plan which saw Debenhams agree to shut 50 stores and secure rent cuts on others in May.

If successful, it could lead Debenhams to fall back into administration.

The retailer said it was “extremely confident” the action would fail.

Earlier this year, Debenhams fell into the hands of its lenders as part of an administration process, wiping out Mr Ashley’s near-30% stake in the company.

Shortly afterwards the creditors approved the rescue deal – or company voluntary agreement (CVA) – which will see landlords take rental cuts of up to 50%.

Combined Property Control (CPC), which owns the freehold to six Debenhams stores, including Southampton, Harrogate and Folkestone, argues that the CVA was not run properly and should be overturned.

In a twist, the legal case – which begins on Monday – is being funded by Sports Direct, which launched – but then withdrew – a similar challenge in July.

That came after Mr Ashley twice said he was considering making an offer for Debenhams in April.

Of the latest legal case, a spokesperson for Debenhams said: “We remain extremely confident this challenge is without merit and expect it to fail.

“In the meantime, we are progressing with our restructuring, which was approved by the vast majority of creditors, including over 80% of landlords.”

The retailer said it would appeal if it lost the case.

Before it was rescued, Britain’s biggest department store chain had been hit by a succession of profit warnings amid a retail slowdown on the High Street.

The firm, which currently has 166 stores and employs about 25,000 people, hopes its CVA and recent changes to management will get it back on track.

Stefaan Vansteenkiste from restructuring specialists Alvarez & Marsal became chief executive last month, replacing Sergio Bucher who stepped down in April.

But if CPC wins its case, Debenhams’ restructuring plan could unravel.

According to reports over the weekend, Debenhams has asked advisers at professional services firm Deloitte to come up with contingency plans should it lose the case and its CVA be derailed.

The High Court case ends on Friday, although the ruling is likely to be delivered at a later date after the judge has deliberated.

Online retailer Boohoo swoops on high street icon Karen Millen

The changing face of British retailing will be underlined on Tuesday, when Boohoo Group, the wildly successful online-only fashion business, swoops to buy Karen Millen, one of the high street’s best-known names.

It is understood that Boohoo, which owns a controlling stake in PrettyLittleThing, is in advanced talks to buy Karen Millen and sister brand Coast through an insolvency process known as a pre-pack administration.

A transaction had yet to be signed late on Monday evening, and people close to the process warned that it could yet be abandoned.

However, a deal is expected to be concluded following the appointment of Deloitte as administrator to Karen Millen.

If completed, it would come after a six-week sale process in which the retailer’s management and advisers attempted to strike a solvent sale.

Sources said on Monday night that the brutal conditions in Britain’s retail industry had made a pre-pack deal – through which some of the company’s financial liabilities are left behind – unavoidable.

AIM-listed Boohoo’s acquisition of Karen Millen and Coast secures a potentially bright future for the two women’s fashion brands.

The company owns brands including its own boohoo label, Nasty Gal and MissPap.

The purchase of Coast and Karen Millen, however, by an online-only retailer will cast doubt about the future of hundreds of retail jobs at a time when tens of thousands more are facing the axe.

Together, Karen Millen and Coast employ approximately 1100 people, trading from more than 30 standalone stores and 175 concessions in the UK.

One retail analyst said on Monday that it was “inevitable” that the stores would face closure with the loss of most of the company’s workforce.

Such an outcome would inflict further pain on stakeholders throughout the retail sector, including high street landlords who in recent months have been forced to accept steep rent cuts at some of the sector’s biggest names.

Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia Group, the owner of Top Shop, Debenhams and Monsoon Accessorize have turned to creditors to strike compromises on store closures and rent reductions in a desperate survival bid.

Karen Millen, which was founded by the eponymous entrepreneur more than 30 years ago, will become the latest in a series of big fashion names to be forced into insolvency.

Also revealed is that the tycoon Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct International would buy Jack Wills through a pre-pack process.

The deal, which cost Mr Ashley’s company less than £13m, was confirmed on Monday.

Earlier this year, LK Bennett, founded by the businesswoman Linda Bennett, was sold to its Chinese franchisee following several weeks in administration.

Karen Millen and Coast are being sold by Kaupthing, one of the ‎Icelandic banks that collapsed during the 2008 financial crisis.

One of the most prominent fashion brands in the UK, Karen Millen has a surprisingly large international footprint with a presence in about 50 international markets, including Australia, France, Spain and the US.

The company, which snapped up the Coast brand from administrators last year, recorded sales of £162m in the year to February 2018, up from £158.8m the year before.

It recorded an operating loss of £1.4m last year – an improvement on the prior year’s performance.

The retailer is run by Beth Butterwick, a former‎ executive at Bonmarche, and chaired by Neil McCausland, who has held directorships at retailers such as Kurt Geiger and Snow and Rock.

The founder of the Karen Millen brand‎ is no longer involved with the business, which was founded during the 1980s.

Ms Millen captured a growing share of a market focused on designer-lookalike fashions, riding a wave with her business partner and eventually selling out to Oasis in 2004 for close to £100m.

She was regarded as one of the most talented fashion retailers of her generation.

Further changes of the business bearing her name ensued, ‎but Ms Millen was declared bankrupt in 2017 following heavy losses connected to the failure of Kaupthing more than a decade ago.

She also ‎fought a legal battle to regain the right to use her name on new clothing designs.

Karen Millen’s Icelandic owner also counts the Oasis and Warehouse brands among its assets, although these are not part of the pre-pack sale to Boohoo.

The AIM-listed retailer’s purchase of Karen Millen and Coast will reinforce both the residual appeal of those brands and also the shifting balance of power in a retail industry beset by structural change.

Boohoo, which was set up in 2006 by Mahmud Kamani and Carol Kane, now has a market value of £2.6bn, making it two-thirds the size of Marks & Spencer.

Spokespeople for Boohoo, Karen Millen and Deloitte all declined to comment.

Common issues men in their 40s face when they travel

As people enter their 40s, they may still feel like a twenty-something on the inside, but their bodies begin to give some not-so-subtle reminders of reality.

Men in their big four O’s often have to adjust their lifestyles and habits to accommodate these changes. When it comes to travelling, however, maintaining your adopted lifestyle habits becomes a whole other ball game.

There are, however, a particular set of problems that older men usually face when they travel. If these can be addressed appropriately, then their travel experiences and their health can be significantly improved.

Here are some common issues men in their 40s face when they travel.

Lack of sleep

Travelling thoroughly messes up anyone’s sleep cycle, but younger people recover from this much quicker than men that have crossed the 40-year mark.

When one is younger, sleep comes easier and is deeper. Older people tend to have lighter sleep within shorter periods. Barely getting enough sleep as it is, when older men spend long hours travelling on aeroplanes or trains attempting to catch some shut-eye to no avail, they can end up tremendously sleep deprived during and after travel.

Sleep deprivation affects cognitive performance, memory, energy levels, reaction times, emotions and can leave one feeling quite under the weather.

Scheduling travel itineraries to allow for sufficient sleep and recovery can do wonders for allowing you to not only be active throughout your trip but also makes it an immensely enjoyable experience.

Chronic fatigue

This occurs both in conjunction with and as a consequence of the lack of sleep. People in their 40s may experience fatigue as a normal part of their lives.

Chronic fatigue, however, is defined as a condition of constant tiredness and lack of energy, not associated with any illness, occurring for longer than 6 months.

It is imperative to preempt this and get sufficient rest and sleep before chronic fatigue sets in. Once it sets in after you pass 40, it can get progressively difficult for your energy levels to recover and revert to what they were previously.

Hair loss

Hair loss is quite common for men in their forties, but what many people don’t know is that this issue gets aggravated due to changes in climate, environment, water and diet. And these are the very conditions that your hair is subjected to as a result of travelling.

To avoid seeing strands of your hair clog up your hotel shower the next time you travel, hair loss treatments are the perfect solution.

There are two approved drugs to treat male baldness.

Minoxidil (Rogaine) is available for topical application as a liquid or foam. This rub-in hair loss treatment works by increasing blood flow and stimulating hair regrowth. Not only does it help with regrowth, but it also helps to keep the strands that you already have.

Finasteride (Propecia) is a hair loss treatment widely available in pill form. The method of action of this drug involves lowering DHT (dihydrotestosterone), the hormone responsible for shrinking hair follicles. It can slow hair loss as well as help hair regrow.

If you feel like your recent travels may have triggered accelerated hair loss or would like to inquire about hair loss treatments before going on a long trip, book an online consultation with the health experts at Click Pharmacy. Along with professional medical advice and online prescriptions, you can conveniently purchase the prescribed medicines from this registered online pharmacy.

Sun damage

Travelling usually entails long hours in the sun.

Even if you are not going to a very sunny place, skin damage from being out in moderate sunlight is still a risk.

Typically, it takes around 30 years for sun damage to show, which means that most of the effects of sun damage that occurred in your teens begin to manifest after you reach the 40s. Since wrinkles and sun spots are already making an appearance, the skin of men over 40 is usually more susceptible to the damaging rays of the sun.

Older individuals with fairer skin tones are at most risk of developing skin cancers. Exposure to UV light and sunburns are some external contributors to malignant skin cancers.

There is also a high prevalence of cataracts among men above forty years of age. This is a condition that results in the clouding of the lens in the eye, leading to a decrease in vision. Ageing itself is a contributing factor to cataracts, but exposure to UV rays in sunlight can further increase the risk of cataracts and other eye conditions.

It is therefore imperative for those in the 40-plus age group to be stringent with the application of sunscreen with SPF of at least 30, as well as wearing sunglasses that filter out UV light whenever they are travelling.

Nutritional and dietary imbalances

Travel often disrupts the most carefully planned diets for people of all age groups.

For men in their 40s, specific dietary requirements and restrictions are essential for staying in optimal health.

After 40, your metabolism slows down considerably, making it extremely easy to pack on the pounds. Weight gain is a contributing factor to several age-related issues like diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and even heart disease.

Lowering fatty and high cholesterol foods, as well as maintaining sufficient intake of the required nutrients are a few dietary considerations that need to be applied once you cross forty. But even the best of habits can be unsettled by the drastic change in routine incurred by travel.

Keeping a well-stocked inventory of your daily supplements, and being strict with what you eat and what you avoid, can do wonders for preventing any medical issues and unwanted weight gain.

According to NHS, It is highly advisable for those aged between 40 and 75 to get an NHS Health Check every five years. These routine health checks serve to measure the risk of developing diseases like heart disease, kidney disease and dementia, identify early signs of these and also offer advice on preventive measures that can be taken.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Sports Direct regrets saving House of Fraser from closure

Sports Direct says it regrets rescuing House of Fraser in its much-delayed results, which revealed a €674m (£605m) tax bill from Belgium authorities.

The firm, which bought the department store out of administration a year ago, said: “If we had the gift of hindsight we might have made a different decision in August 2018.”

It described problems at House of Fraser as “nothing short of terminal”.

It added it was in talks with Belgian officials to resolve the tax bill.

The full-year results had been due to be published on 15 July but were delayed until 26 July, in part, because of uncertainty over the future trading performance of House of Fraser.

‘House of horrors’

Those results had been expected to be published on Friday morning, but were subject to continuous delays throughout the day.

It has now emerged that Sports Direct, which is majority-owned and run by billionaire Mike Ashley, was hit by the tax bill by Belgian authorities on 25 July.

The company said the request for back taxes is linked to the way its goods are moved throughout the European Union and are taxed in Belgium.

Meanwhile, it also said that its chief financial officer of two years, Jon Kempster, is stepping down and will be succeeded by his deputy, Chris Wootton.

Commenting on House of Fraser, Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said: “It’s a House of horrors, more like.”

He said Sports Direct had “every reason to regret buying House of Fraser now”.

“It’s such a shame as there were such high hopes,” he added.

Mr Ashley had vowed to turn House of Fraser into the “Harrods of the High Street” when he bought the department store chain out of administration for £90m last August.

However, on Friday he said: “In the short-term you can’t justify it. It’s like buying a broken down car at the roadside – you have to get it to the garage to fix it.”

But he said: “Long-term, we’d like to think we are hopeful of where we are going.”

‘Bank on Dave’ moves step closer to realising dream of being first UK-owned High Street bank in 120 years

Business champion Burnley Savings and Loans Limited (“BSAL”), also known as “Bank on Dave!”, has taken another step towards becoming the first UK owned high-street bank in 120 years and today are announcing a £2.5 million funding round on equity crowdfunding platform Seedrs.

BSAL was established in 2011 by local millionaire businessman Dave Fishwick in the wake of the financial crash and the devastation it left across the North of England.  As a man passionate about his hometown of Burnley, Dave wanted to set up his own business in Lancashire to help inject much-needed support into local community and businesses, and to prove that financial service providers can be socially responsible.

BSAL seeks to respond to the significant market need from SMEs and individuals who may have difficulty or are unable to access credit from mainstream high street financial companies. One of the driving aims of the Company is to lend responsibly, therefore providing the customer with greater opportunity to control their debt, which in turn will help support an improved credit rating in the future.

Over the past 7 years, the Company has seen that customers seeking a modest loan may in the future turn into a customer that wishes to borrow a much larger amount to support their business’s growth, therefore creating a compelling ‘feeder’ acquisition strategy for the Company. 

Dave wants to put the trust, ethics and best-practice back into banking, treating customers as individuals and valued clients. Creating a bank that is an institution from the community, for the community.  

Having already lent nearly £20 million to over 3,000 qualifying borrowers across the UK, the Company is now seeking to grow its reach by becoming an authorised UK bank, which will be called “Bank of Dave”. To do achieve this, BSAL is launching their fundraising round on Seedrs to support the procurement of the IT systems needed in preparation for its bank license application. 

Burnley Savings and Loans Founder, Dave Fishwick said: “The core vision for Bank of Dave is to be the ethical choice provider of loans and savings products to honest hard-working families, helping every generation to grow their business and to save for the future.

We have had brilliant few years acting as a savings and loans provider, but the opportunity to become a fully authorised UK bank will expand our horizons even further, enabling us to help more people around the UK.

We are delighted to be launching our first ever funding round on Seedrs, giving our hundreds of thousands of amazing supporters a chance to share in the first new UK-owned high street bank in over a century.”

CEO James Bradley commented: “We are going through the authorisation process to become a bank and are advancing towards our goal of becoming an authorised UK bank. We continue to witness a real market demand for financial providers that offer essential banking services to customers that traditionally found it difficult or have been unable to access affordable credit. We are confident that once fully authorised that the Bank of Dave will be the bank that delivers this capability.”

For more information, visit: www.seedrs.com/bankondave