LONDON, UK: NEXT plc has partnered with Tom Joule to purchase out of administration the bulk of the assets of Joules via a newly formed firm for £34 million to be settled in cash.
In addition, NEXT has acquired the present Joules Head Office for £7 million cash. The firm intends to proceed to function a significant variety of shops (around 100 of the present 124 Joules’ stores) within the UK and Ireland, topic to agreeing phrases with landlords. 19 shops will be closed by the administrator today.
NEXT will personal 74% of the fairness with the remaining 26% owned by Tom Joule. Joules will retain its administration autonomy and creative independence. The Company will have its personal Board of Directors and proceed to be based in Market Harborough. Most Joules staff will stay with the enterprise and Joules will migrate onto the NEXT Total Platform over time – see below.
Joules was based in 1989 by Tom Joule, who has been central to the brand’s growth and success. Tom handed accountability for design to the Joules creative groups in 2019 and moved to a Non-Executive Director role. He has recently stepped again into an Executive role as Product Director and intends, upon completion of the Proposed Transaction, to take the lead in re-establishing the clear identity of each model and product that has been on the coronary heart of Joules’ success over the final 30 years. He will additionally guarantee that there’s management continuity for staff, suppliers and different key stakeholders alike.
Jonathon Brown was appointed CEO of Joules in 2022 and can stay in that role.
Joules’ web sites and on-line operations, each within the UK and overseas, will be operated by NEXT through NEXT’s Total Platform. Total Platform will additionally present warehousing and distribution services for Joules’ retail, franchise, wholesale and concession businesses, all of which will proceed to be operated by Joules. It is anticipated Joules will go live on NEXT’s Total Platform in early 2024.
The Company will profit from Tom’s understanding of the Joules brand, buyer and product direction that served Joules so well traditionally and from NEXT’s Total Platform, to bring operational effectivity to the newly formed business.
Simon Wolfson, NEXT Chief Executive said: “We are excited to see what can be achieved through the mixture of Joules’ distinctive product, marketing and model constructing skills with NEXT’s Total Platform infrastructure.”
Tom Joule said: “After three years away from the operational side, I’m truly looking ahead to inspiring groups with clear direction to excite and recapture the creativeness of the buyer again. Our customers have always trusted us to lead, not follow, with merchandise that reflect their lifestyle. It’s important that we live as much as the excessive requirements they desire in design, excessive quality and, with NEXT’s Total Platform supply and buyer support proposition, the service they expect.
I’m so happy that we have been able to strike a deal that protects the way ahead for the corporate for all its loyal customers, its employees and additionally for the city of Market Harborough, which have been so central to Joules’ success.”
Will Wright, Head of Restructuring at Interpath Advisory and joint administrator, said: “We are happy to have concluded this transaction which secures the way ahead for this nice British brand, in addition to safeguarding a significant variety of jobs. To have achieved this in such a brief timetable is testomony to the support we’ve received from employees, suppliers and different key stakeholders all through the administration process, so we’d like to express our profound thanks to everybody involved.”
NEXT plc (LON: NXT) is a FTSE 100 firm based in Leicester and is one of many UK’s main on-line clothes retailers. NEXT has round 500 shops within the UK and Eire and an on-line presence in over 70 countries promoting the NEXT model and over 700 different fashion, home and magnificence brands, together with Joules.
Joules is a premium lifestyle brand and group with an authentic heritage and values of family, enjoyable and pleasure within the countryside.
Joules creates and curates distinctive merchandise that brighten the lives of its customers, delivered through main digital platforms and supported by enticing experiences and stores that can be found in fascinating locations related to the Joules customer’s lifestyle.