• Dreams owners Sun European Partners line up £400m sale
  • Bed specialist’s pre-tax profits soared to £13.1m in 2015
  • It is currently unclear who the potential buyers are for the business
  • Dreams slumped into administration just three years ago

Dreams is being lined up for a £400m sale just three years after the retailer slumped into administration, according to reports.

The bed specialist was rescued from the brink of collapse in 2013 by turnaround business Sun European Partners, in a deal that saved 1,600 jobs.

Chief executive Mike Logue, who was drafted in to lead the retailer’s transformation, admitted Dreams was left on the precipice after “four torrid years of decline.”

But since he took the helm, Dreams has turned the corner and it posted pre-tax profits of £13.1m in the year to December 23, 2015 – up from £400,000 just a year earlier – after revamping profitable stores and closing loss-making sites.

The retailer now has 180 stores across the UK.

Sources told The Sunday Times that Sun European Partners is now ready to cash in on Dreams, with a sale expected to go through later this year. However, it is unclear who is in the race to acquire the retailer.

Logue declined to comment on the speculation but told Retail Week: “We are owned by a private equity firm, and businesses owned by these are always up for sale, as long as someone is willing to pay the right price.

“Our focus, as it has been for the last three years, is to continue to improve our business every day.”

Prior to Sun European Partners’ purchase of the business, Dreams was owned by private equity firm Exponent, which bought the retailer for £200m in 2008.

But after the financial crisis struck, its debts widened during the downturn and it tumbled into administration.

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