Macintosh sells its British activities

Huge online sales growth in Belgium

Macintosh sold its Fashion UK branch, containing Jones Bootmaker and Brantano’s British stores, to Alteri investors for 17 million euro. It will use these funds, which were at the lower end of what it had expected to get, to pay off debts. The company is also still looking for a potential buyer for Kwantum.

Total turnover dropped 4.4 % to 108.4 million euro in the third quarter, on the back of sixty store closures. However, on a like-for-like basis turnover grew 1.8 %. Like-for-like turnover in September even skyrocketed 9 % compared to the year before. Biggest growth factor were Belgian online sales, which grew a third.

“We can see the first effects of our transformation plans in the way we guide our stores and collections more directly. Our strategy, to focus on the Benelux shoe market, has become more streamlined now that we have managed to sell Nea International (in April) and Fashion UK (this week)”, Macintosh CEO, Kurt Staelens, said.