Boohoo to snap up Karen Millen and Coast in pre-pack

Boohoo Group, which owns PrettyLittleThing, Nasty Gal and MissPap, is looking to add struggling high street fashion retailer Karen Millen and sister brand Coast to its stable through an insolvency process called pre-pack administration.

Following the publication of the story overnight by Sky News, Boohoo issued an update to the London Stock Exchange this morning, confirming a bid to ”acquire the online business of renowned British brands Karen Millen and Coast, together with all associated intellectual property rights”.

In the update, Boohoo described Karen Millen’s online business as a “highly complementary addition” to its existing ecommerce offering. 

The purchase of a high street, bricks-and-mortar retailer by a hitherto pureplay business could cast doubt over the jobs of 1,100 Karen Millen and Coast employees and the brands’ network of 30 stores and 175 concessions across the UK.

Boohoo also has a large international presence, selling into more than 50 international markets including Australia, France, Spain and the US.

Karen Millen and Coast were put up for sale at the beginning of June by current owners Kaupthing, the Icelandic bank. In the 52 weeks to February 2018, it made pre-tax losses of £9.5m on £161.9m sales.

The prospect of yet more retail job losses comes at a time when the sector is facing extensive pain. Yesterday, Tesco announced 4,500 jobs would be affected by the reorganisation of its Metro store estate.

A number of struggling bricks-and-mortar retailers, including Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia, Monsoon Accessorize and Cotswold Outdoor have turned to CVAs this year to slash rents and close underperforming stores in order to survive.