Cambridge Retail Group Holding, the parent company of high-end department stores such as Selfridges, revealed a pre-tax loss of £124 million since its inception over a year ago. The retail consortium, led by René Benko's Signa Group and Tiang Chirathivat's Central Group, was established after acquiring the department store portfolio from the Weston family for £4 billion in August 2022.
The group registered revenues of £804 million up to January 28, 2023. This income was generated from several department stores under its control, including Selfridges in the UK, De Bijenkorf in the Netherlands, and Brown Thomas and Arnotts in Ireland.
Despite the revenue, individual brands under the group reported significant losses. Selfridges UK accounted for a substantial portion of the losses with £106 million, while De Bijenkorf lost £6.6 million. Brown Thomas and Arnotts together reported a combined loss of £11.4 million on revenues of £153 million.
In August 2023, Cambridge Retail Group replaced a €354 million (EUR1 = USD1.0551) loan from Julius Baer with a €364 million short-term shareholder loan facilitated by San Simeon Investments. The new loan offers a flexible grace period for repayment. Julius Baer has declined to comment on this matter.
The group's liabilities totaled £3.4 billion during this period while its assets were valued at £3.8 billion (GBP1 = USD1.2207). Amid these financial challenges, restructuring efforts at Selfridges UK and preliminary reorganization at De Bijenkorf have been initiated, which could potentially lead to job losses.
René Benko, one of the leaders of the consortium, had previously faced a corruption investigation but was acquitted of bribery charges in a separate case. The impact of these legal proceedings on the group's performance is not clear at this time.
This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.