ASOS Buys Out Arcadia Group Brands
01-02-2021
Last week online retailer Boohoo announced it had bought the Debenhams brand and website for £55m and today, 1st February 2021, UK online muscle continues to flex as ASOS announce their purchase of key brands from Arcadia Group.
The deal, worth £295m includes Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT brands with the acquisition of the brands and the stock. As with the Boohoo / Debenhams deal ASOS has stated that it will not be taking on any of the stores. Arcadia Group fell into administration in November 2020 leaving its brands and 13,000 jobs hanging in the balance.
ASOS chief executive Nick Beighton informed the press of the deal via a conference call. He said that acquiring the brands would accelerate ASOS’s mission to become “the number one destination for fashion-loving 20-somethings throughout the world.”
In terms of existing Arcadia Group employees the deal will see approximately 300 people from the design, buying and retail departments transfer over to ASOS. However, the majority, 2,500, employees from the various stores situated up and down the country will loose their jobs.
The deal has received mixed reviews from industry and media, however in terms of supply chain it could be just what the UK manufacturing sector needs. ASOS has a long-standing commitment to UK manufacturing, developing jobs and skills, as we have seen with the Stitching Academy and Fashion Technology Academy. Manufacturing on home soil makes perfect sense not only environmentally but in terms of getting key product lines to market quickly. Little and often is how ASOS sell out and manage to avoid copious amounts of discounted or unwanted stock.
Boohoo is said to be in discussions with Arcadia Group over its remaining brands – Burton, Dorothy Perkins and Wallis, plus size brand Evans was bought by City Chic in December 2020 for £23m. Administrators have stated that the ASOS deal is expected to complete on 4th February 2021.
