Beales hires ex Moss Bros for refinancing plans

Listed department store chain Beales has hired a former

Moss Bros finance director Michael Hitchcock as interim finance director to seal a refinancing package. Shares in Beales closed at 24.5p on Friday, valuing the company at £5m.
 
As published by ‘The Independent’, he is helping Beales to renew its £9m working capital facility with HSBC that runs through to March 2013.
 
Beales said it had "undertaken a major restructuring review and is in the process of implementing a series of strategies which were identified". The retailer's finance director Ken Owst resigned in March and will leave in June after 18 years.
 
The retailer, which has 32 stores under the Beales, Robbs, Whitakers, Denners and Broadbents & Boothroyds brands, is expected to complete the refinancing at the end of next month.
 
Beales' like-for-like sales, including concessions, fell by 8.4% in the first quarter of 2012.