Fashion, uk, london, clothing, Q3 sales down 1.8% at Etam, news

Philip Green in Etam revamp

Retail tycoon Philip Green has wasted no time in overhauling the mess at his latest acquisition, fashion chain Etam UK. The Monaco-based owner of Bhs and Arcadia spent his first day of ownership going through the ranges at Etam's Oxford Street HQ. Green said Etam had struggled because "the product is poor, it doesn't take enough money per square foot and the stores are looking tired."

Green himself may also be responsible for the loss of earnings for London Casino. With an extraordinary series of big wins at the roulette table London Casino has warned that its profits are likely to fall by several million pounds this year.

Green won an estimated £2m in one night at Les Ambassadeurs in Mayfair, owned by London Clubs International, and at least a further £1m on other gambling nights around last Christmas

11 April 2005

Etam Close To Takeover

According to the Scotsman, source close to Scottish retail entrepreneur Tom Hunter yesterday stonewalled rising City speculation that he was circling fashion chain Etam with a view to making a takeover approach. The rumours that Hunter might be one of a number of value-hunters in the sector looking at Etam come after the group was put up for sale last week as it continues to face a tough market in which to grow sales.

A source close to Hunter said yesterday: "Tom never comments on potential moves. He is constantly looking at a number of opportunities, but he would not comment on specifics." One retail analyst said: "There's plenty around to look at and it would be no great surprise if Hunter was one of those doing the looking. On the other hand, he might not think it is the easiest retailer to turn around." Some believe that Hunter would like some of Etam's sites to expand his new Qube footwear business.

Nick Paine, Etam's managing director, also would not be drawn at the weekend about who he had been talking to about a possible sale of the firm. But he was reported as saying that the interested parties included retailers, individuals and private equity firms. Among the latter are believed to be Hilco and SB Capital.

City analysts believe Etam, which has 210 stores, could fetch about £50 million. Etam made a pre-tax loss of £15.5m in the year to 3 January, while sales in the three months to end-December 2004 dropped 3.6 per cent.

www.etam.com
31 January 2005

Etam Aims For Barratts Concessions

Etam is understood to have approached footwear retailer Barratts to replace its own-bought footwear offer with a concession business.

Industry sources have said that the young fashion chain had been looking to out-source selected product categories, and is known to have approached several footwear specialists as part of this wider UK strategy. Barratts is currently hot favourite to seal the footwear concession deal.

One source sad that Etam has had a tough time generally, but footwear has had a particularly difficult period. The chain wants to bring in a specialist to run footwear so it can focus on getting its core business right, but the terms Etam were negotiating on were very shrewd.

Barratts operates around 350 concessions in total within Arcadia's Dorothy Perkins fascia, with sales of about GBP40 million.

Lat September, Etam admitted that the first six months of 2003 had been difficult in the UK but did not reveal UK figures.

www.etam.com
19 February 2004

Etam invests in software system

European apparel chain Etam Development has invested 672,000 euro in Geac Computer Corps RunTime product data management application. The Canadian software company announced this, this week.

Geac said Etam will deploy its software to several hundred users based in multiple countries across Europe including France, UK and Belgium. Etam is the second largest distributor of women's apparel in France.

The software will allow Etam to view of how garments will be manufactured, allowing simulation of designs, costs and margins, and recording specification for areas including sizing, labelling and packaging.

Etam operates more than 1,200 stores in both Europe and Asia Pacific and the company required a solution that could help reduce time-to-market, and increase efficiency and effectiveness of the entire design and pre-production process, but also its profitability.

December 4, 2002
www.etam.com

Q3 sales down 1.8% at Etam

Etam Developement, the French retailer behind the 1.2.3., Etam Lingerie and Tammy chains, said that sales declined by 1.8 per cent to 260.4 million euro (GBP 161,9m) in the third quarter mainly due to poor trading in September.
In the nine month period, sales rose by 3,6 per cent to 792.2 million euro (GBP 492,6m), or by 1.1 per cent on a like-for-like basis. At the beginning of the year, the company discontinued its loss-making 1.2.3. Lingerie chain.