// Holland & Barrett’s owner Mikhail Fridman under pressure to inject cash into the retail chain
// The Russian billionaire is under pressure from lenders as Holland & Barrett is hit by the retail crisis
// Last month, CEO Tony Buffin warned on a sharp slowdown in returns from Holland & Barrett’s 767 stores
Holland & Barrett lenders have reportedly urged the retailer’s Russian billionaire owner Mikhail Fridman to inject new funds as tough retail conditions start to bite.
According to The Sunday Telegraph, Fridman is under pressure to stabalise Holland & Barrett’s balance sheet after chief executive Tony Buffin last month warned on a sharp slowdown across the health and wellbeing retailer’s 767 stores.
City sources speaking to the newspaper also said Holland & Barrett’s earnings were £104 million in the year to September, which did not meet expectations.
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It also compared to the £139 million and £145 million recorded in previous years.
The news prompted a sell-off of Holland & Barrett bonds.
Last week, they were reportedly being sold for as little as 50p in the pound.
Holland & Barrett owes £1.3 million in bonds and loans.
The retailer was acquired by L1 Retail, a retail investment fund controlled by Fridman, for £1.74 billion in 2017.
Buffin, a former boss of Travis Perkins, was appointed to the chief executive role in May.
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7 Comments. Leave new
This is what happens when there is little to no strategy at such a large retailer. They have no collective direction with directors being sacked quicker than they can gather together a plan. Their website systems are old, the instore systems are old and their back end systems just cant cope anymore. Too much focus on building everything in house so nothing actually gets done.
No one seems to be setting a clear strategy of where the business should be going – too much focus on promotions is crippling the business as no one buys until the next penny sale or equivalent starts. Instead of focusing on what makes them truly a great brand their knowledge and experience.
Poor appointments at the top just seem to have caused conflicts against what they are actually good at. Tony for instance has brought in a number of directors to then let them go a few months/sometimes weeks later. I guess thats what happens when he recruits friends/yes men to his board.
Company has gone down the pan, the CEO has no idea what he’s doing. Keeps making redundancies around the business without even thinking the effects it has and I’m really not surprised sales have lowered due to poor management
WOW, how the mighty are fallen.. 40 periods of continued growth under Peter, to this.
A CTO stuck in the 70’s who truly believes it is better to build than buy ”Everything” and that includes POS, which has been an unmitigated disaster from the moment that idea was conceived.. Seriously, building your own POS? with a single developer who’d never seen a POS solution in his life before.. Good thinking George!!
Stopping the free fruit in the office must have saved them a few hundred pounds. Good job, because as already mentioned both CEO and CTO have bought in so many best friends and buddys that there’s nobody left who knows how to do anything any more.
Good luck H&B, you really will need it I’m afraid
Long live the AS400!
This is what happens – way too many…….
This is what happens when your goods are overpriced and your on line customer service is appalling.
Is the demise of the business imminent or is its failure all down to poor management?
The company took money for an order three weeks ago and still haven’t even begun processing it. Are the fat cats just looting the company’s cash?