Edinburgh Woollen Mill not for sale but Peacocks valuation sought

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Sep 21, 2020

There’s speculation this week that value fashion chain Peacocks might be sold at some point as its owner, retail billionaire Philip Day, seeks a valuation for the chain. 

But sources with knowledge of the situation have stressed that his Edinburgh Woollen Mill operation isn't up for sale and that the activity around Peacocks at present is purely around finding out its value, rather than a decision to definitely sell it.

A report in the Sunday Times at the weekend had talked about “a sales process” for Peacocks, but there were reportedly some inaccuracies in the article.

It seems the group has appointed an adviser to provide market intelligence on the business value of the chain and this is exploratory and a valuation process, not a sales process.

The Peacocks chain is solvent and it's also been suggested that there’s no timetable, even if a decision was taken to sell it. It looks like the valuation process was kicked off by an unsolicited approach to the group about the chain following recent news stories about it having also received unsolicited approaches for Jaeger, Austin Reed and Jacques Vert.

Peacocks sells budget fashion in-store and online and currently operates from 550 stores and concessions with 11,000 people working for the operation.