BHS secures cash injection

The new owner of BHS has secured a loan of around 65 million pounds from Grovepoint Credit as a cash injection to help them turn around the struggling high street store.

Retail Acquisitions, which is backed by a number of investors, including brokers and lawyers, bought the loss-making department store from Sir Philip Green for 1 pound earlier this year, and the management team led by Dominic Chappell has secured the cash injection to “accelerate” the businesses “turnaround plan”.

“This is a major step forward for BHS,” Chappell told the Financial Times. “All of the money raised from Grovepoint will be invested in the business. We have a balance sheet with value so were able to leverage lending off it.”

The 65 million pound loan is understood to have been secured against ten of BHS’s stores and means that the department store chain will now have a working capital of around 85 million pounds, after the rent payments and other financial obligations have been met.

Retail Acquisitions hope that they can turn around the struggling BHS brand over the next three years by modernising its shops, and introducing food back to at least 20 of the 170 UK stores. Changes have already started to happen with the introduction of the new logo, which now features the store’s name in full underneath, British Home Stores.