Retailer Next buys Cath Kidston in £8.5m deal

Retailer Next has bought floral manner marque Cath Kidston from administrators successful a woody worthy £8.5m.

Next has taken connected the sanction and intelligence spot but not Cath Kidston's 4 shops.

Administrators PwC said the shops would enactment unfastened portion "operations are coiled down", but added determination would beryllium redundancies.

Next has been snapping up struggling retailers, buying Made.com and manner concatenation Joules precocious past year.

Cath Kidston collapsed successful 2020 with the nonaccomplishment of astir 1,000 jobs and the closure of each its UK shops.

It was bought and relaunched by backstage concern firm, Baring Private Equity Asia, which past sold the concern past July to restructuring steadfast Hilco Capital.

Hilco had reportedly been looking astatine a merchantability of the concern past month.

PwC said the retail assemblage "continues to beryllium exposed to investigating marketplace conditions".

Cath Kidston had been deed by the "decline successful user spending driven by cost-of-living pressures and rising costs," head Zelf Hussain said.

Cath Kidston was founded successful 1993.

The institution presently employs 125 people, with stores successful London, Ashford, Cheshire Oaks, and York.

These volition stay unfastened to commercialized down banal earlier closing permanently.