Questions over strategy<\/a> have also surfaced at the top of the business.<\/p>\nIn 2023, Manju Malhotra quit as chief executive after a disagreement with Sir Dickson over the company\u2019s direction, having pushed for more radical changes and international growth.<\/p>\n
She was replaced initially by Pearson Poon, Sir Dickson\u2019s son, before Julia Goddard was appointed chief executive last year to lead a turnaround.<\/p>\n
The situation is expected to attract interest from opportunistic buyers.<\/p>\n
Frasers Group, controlled by Mike Ashley, has been linked to Harvey Nichols and is understood to be circling certain regional stores.<\/p>\n
Mr De Mello suggested that Harvey Nichols could even pursue a pre-pack administration if a buyer seeks to strip out weaker sites.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf someone only wants a handful of stores, that does point towards a pre-pack \u2013 you put it through administration, shed some leases and debt, and buy back a leaner business,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cThe most likely buyers are probably Middle Eastern \u2013 the Qataris or the Saudis \u2013 given their exposure to Harrods and Selfridges.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clive Black, a retail analyst at Shore Capital, said: \u201cHarvey Nichols is clearly a trophy asset among a small subset globally, with an ultra-wealthy and well-connected customer base.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe prestige of the name will count, as will its network, which may attract buyers less focused purely on profit and more on association with that world. There are football clubs with less brand heritage sitting in a similar part of the Venn diagram.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harvey Nichols employs around 1,200 people across the UK, with stores in London, Leeds, Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol and Dublin. It also operates the Oxo Tower Restaurant on London\u2019s South Bank and has international outlets across the Middle East and Asia.<\/p>\n
A spokesman for Harvey Nichols said: \u201cWe do not comment on market speculation. Harvey Nichols remains fully focused on delivering its transformation strategy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are making strong progress across the business, including a complete refurbishment of our flagship store in Knightsbridge, which is showing positive early signs of growth and reinforces our confidence in the direction of the business.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe categorically deny any suggestion that the business is pursuing, or preparing for, a pre-pack administration.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs outlined, the process referenced is designed to explore a range of strategic options, which could include a sale of the business as a whole. No decisions have been made regarding the structure of any potential transaction, and any speculation about specific outcomes \u2013 including a pre-pack or administration process \u2013 is unfounded.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Companies House filings show that Sir Dickson has been steadily stepping back from formal roles at the business…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[92791,84,2980,59,209780,5438,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-660510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-absolutely-fabulous","tag-business","tag-companies","tag-gb","tag-retail-and-consumer-industry","tag-standard","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}