Jaeger “back on track” to cut losses

Jaeger, the British high-end fashion retailer, is said to be back on track to narrow losses. The fashion house, bought by Better Capital after it fell into administration last year, will however post a full year small loss due to the weaker sales

in 2012.

Better Capital, a private equity firm that bought Jaeger from administration in 2012, toasted to its investors on Friday, when it published its third quarter interim management statement covering the 20 weeks from 1 October 2012 to 13 February 2013. Better Capital will be sharing 14.1 million pounds with all shareholders of one of their funds.

In the statement, the current owners of the heritage British label explained that “Jaeger has seen sales decline year-on-year but the business has migrated away from almost constant discounting to a more premium trading stance. This has resulted in improved margins but the business will sustain a small loss in the current financial year albeit an improvement on prior period.”

With regards to the coming months, Jaeger is predicted to post a small loss for 2012 full year on the back of falling sales. However, the recovery programme is on curse and “New products for the Spring/Summer 2013 season were recently released to good reviews. The online and Regent Street store transformation projects are running broadly to plan, and international expansion is gaining traction. As with all retail businesses, the improvement in product appeal and brand awareness will take time to build.”

Better Capital has revealed as well its interest in British retail market, stressing that “A number of high-profile retail opportunities seen in the past have resurfaced, underlining the continued difficulties on the High Street and perhaps signalling the unwillingness of lending institutions and other key stakeholders to prolong the lifeline previously offered.”