‘No sale talks’ at Laura Ashley
Retailer responds to sale speculation
Laura Ashley is not in talks over a potential sale of the business.
The home furnishings and fashion retailer issued a statement to the stock exchange saying: “Further to the unusual level of recent press speculation, the board of Laura Ashley Holdings confirms that it is not in discussions with respect to the sale of the company.”
A weekend report in the [i]Mail on Sunday[/i] newspaper quoted a company insider saying that senior executives have been in talks over the future of the chain, also reporting that “at least one retail entrepreneur” had approached the company in the past fortnight.
Laura Ashley is majority owned by Malaysian entrepreneur Dr Khoo Kay Peng and Malayan United Industries. Last month, the company reported an 11.6 per cent decline in UK like-for-like sales over the 24 weeks to January 15, with home furnishing like-for-likes down 4.1 per cent and fashion like-for-likes down 28.2 per cent.
Joint chief executives Rebecca Navarednam and Ainum Mohd-Saaid have both exited the business in the past three months, with the role now taken by Lillian Tan, until recently chief executive of Malaysian retail group Metrojaya.
