Brantano sells 11 stores

To finace the takeover of 28 Famous Brunswick stores in the UK the Brantano Group has entered into an agreement with the Belgian vastgoedbevak Retail Estates on the sale of 11 Brantano stores for a total amount of 8 million euro. After the sale, Brantano will once again rent all sold stores. With this sale, Brantano generated the means for the take-over and refit of 28 Famous Brunswick stores internally. With this sale, Brantano realises a gain on assets before tax of 1.5 million euro. As per 31 December 2002, the Brantano Group had 295 stores, of which 32 (21 from now on) were their own property and 263 are rented. The stores owned by Brantano are all situated in Belgium. The Brantano Group also owns the distribution centres in Belgium, the UK and the Netherlands, which is currently for sale.

The 11 stores that were sold to Retail Estates mainly concern properties bought by the Group more recently. It concerns the Brantano stores in Gembloux, Marche-en-Famenne, Hasselt, La Louvière, Spa, Tienen, Zemst, Dilbeek, Herent, Herstal and Lokeren.

The Brantano Group remains the tenant of the properties sold to Retail Estates and has entered into long-term contracts in accordance with market conditions. Negotiations resulted in a return for Retail Estates of 8.25% in accordance with the market.

Late December 2002, Brantano was able to take over 28 Famous Brunswick stores in the UK, which speeds up its expansion in the UK, the growth market for Brantano, enormously. As this take-over perfectly fits in with Brantano's strategy, the decision was made to phase out real estate possession, which is not considered as a core activity, and to generate the necessary take-over resources this way. With the sale's net profit Brantano will finance the take-over of these 28 stores and their conversion to Brantano stores.