Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct business has bought Jack Wills for £12.75 million after the fashion chain went into administration on Monday. The high street retailer has taken over all of Jack Wills’ stock, the distribution centre and 100 stores plus employees across the UK and Republic of Ireland.
Sports Direct admitted that it regretted trying to rescue House of Fraser last year after discovering problems with the business.
Commenting on Jack Wills, Sports Direct said: “We will look to work with the landlords to reduce the rents to keep as many stores trading as possible.”
Jack Wills employs around 1,700 staff across the business and also has six stores across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the Channel Islands. Jack Wills made an annual loss of £14.2m for the year to January 28th 2018 and had already received over £20m in funding to keep it from failing in 2018.
Administrators KPMG said on Monday: “Like many other retailers, the company had recently experienced mounting cash flow pressures amidst some of the most difficult trading conditions seen on the high street in years.”
Will Wright, partner at KPMG and joint administrator, said: “Jack Wills has a strong brand and proud British heritage, so it is pleasing to have been able to secure this agreement with Sports Direct.”
Jack Wills will be housed in a new division at Sports Direct.
Suzanne Harlow, Jack Wills’ chief executive, said: “For the past year, we have been focused on improving the Jack Wills proposition and the group’s financial performance.
“Despite significant progress, the challenging trading environment led us to conclude that the company’s long-term future would be best served as part of a larger group and Sports Direct will enable us to do this.”
