Edinburgh Woollen Mill has announced the acquisition of upmarket high street retailer Jaeger, in a bid to create a brand new chain of department stores.
In a statement over the weekend, Edinburgh Woollen Mill confirmed Jaeger brand was now part of the group. Jaeger has suffered from years of falling sales, causing private equity firm Better Capital to put the business up for sale after struggling for several years to get the business back on tack.
Jaeger now joins the group of brands that will be part of the new Days department store, created by the billionaire owner of the Edinburgh Woollen Mill group Phillip Day. The first was opened in Carmarthen, Wales last week, with other locations in the pipeline including Newcastle and Bedford. Day hopes to change the image of classic British department stores, which have recently suffered from flagging sales and bad press in the wake of the BHS closure.
The new Days stores will stock all of the Edinburgh Woollen Mill brands, which include Austin Reed, Peacocks, Jane Norman and Country Casuals. A Days spokesperson commented:
“Over the past decade The Edinburgh Woollen Mill group has built up a portfolio of excellent British Brands and we believe bringing these all together with carefully selected partners will deliver an exciting & enjoyable shopping experience for everyone,” said a Days spokesperson.
According to the most recent set of financials from the group, it made £576.3 million in the 12 months to February 2016 with underlying pre-tax profits of £90.9 million.