New Report Highlights House of Fraser’s Mounting Debt to Brands
LONDON — Trouble continues to mount at House of Fraser as a recent report by Ernst & Young, the professional services firm, cites that the retailer owes millions of pounds to its creditors, including major luxury brand partners.
The retail chain, which was bought on Friday morning by Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley, is indebted to a slew of retailers including Giorgio Armani, Mulberry and Kurt Geiger.
Kurt Geiger is owed 4.9 million pounds, Giorgio Armani 1.59 million pounds, Mulberry 2.4 million pounds, Warehouse 1.4 million pounds and J. Barbour 3 million pounds.
The news follows at the heels of a payment dispute between XPO Logistics, which runs two of HoF’s warehouses, and Sports Direct, who has stopped fulfilling orders for the retailer and who is owed 30.4 million pounds.
As a result, HoF shut down its web site, reportedly sitting on at least 50,000 unfulfilled online orders. XPO Logistics and Sports Direct could not be reached for comment.
The report also shows that HoF made a pretax loss of 4.1 million pounds for the year to Jan. 21, 2018 and in the first quarter to April 28, the retailer witnessed a 7.7 percent drop in turnover with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization down to negative 31.4 million pounds.
Related stories
Debenhams to Cut Up Jobs Amid Restructuring
House of Fraser Shuts Down Web Site Amid Payment Disputes With Suppliers
Mike Ashley to Turn House of Fraser into 'Harrods of the High Street'
Get more from WWD: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter