Joules says Next ends stake purchase talks, founder to return in product role
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Just over a month ago, it had emerged that Next was possibly to take a 25% stake in the firm at no less than the share price at the time, or around £15 million.
But with the share price having subsequently fallen and Joules admitting that times were really tough, observers had predicted that a Next deal was unlikely to go through.
The news sent the share price down even further and meant that the total market value of Joules was a mere £11.66 million.
However, Joules did say that “discussions regarding [it] potentially adopting the Next Total
It also said it “continues to develop and execute its strategy and turnaround plan, which focuses on driving higher profitability through: a better pricing and promotional strategy; focusing on more profitable product categories with shorter time to market; optimising the group’s channel mix; and a continuing strong focus on cost control. The group’s outlook for the full year remains unchanged”.
New Joules CEO Jonathon Brown joined on Tuesday and also announced that founder Tom Joule, who’d been a non-executive director of the group, “will lead, in an executive capacity, the company’s renewed product development process for the forthcoming seasons to oversee the product offer and to ensure it surprises and delights our customers”.
