Debenhams to retain Pretty Little Thing as fast fashion brands recovers
Online fashion seller Debenhams is set to retain Pretty Little Thing after considering selling the fast-fashion brand after seeing improvements in profitability.
The retailer, which rebranded from Boohoo Group in March 2025, has unveiled its decision to keep the low-cost retailer after first mulling the sale in August as it looked to restructure its business model.
The company’s considered sale came five years after Boohoo bought the remaining 34 per cent stake in the business stake from Umar Kamani, the son of Boohoo’s executive chair Mahmud Kamani, and business partner Paul Papworth for more than £260m.
In its final results released in August, the group reported a 10 per cent fall in sales, with ‘youth brands’ Boohoo, Boohoo Man and PLT suffering the hardest blow, with sales down by more than a fifth to £1.5bn.
The sale would have involved the closure of its distribution centre in Burnley and resulted in the loss of over 1,200 jobs.
However, it halted the sale after being “particularly pleased” by the pace and scale of PLT’s recovery, leading them to decide to keep the business within its operations.
The trading update said: “The Board had previously held the brand as an asset for sale.
“Given the success we are seeing with the turnaround, the momentum it is building and the substantial opportunity ahead as a fashion-led marketplace, the brand will be retained.”
Offloading non-core assets and exceeding expectations
But the company will continue its bid to shed non-core assets, advancing sales and exploring licencing opportunities as it looks to reduce net debt over the next 12 months.
The group also reported trading above market expectations, anticipating full year profit before tax to reach £50m.
The rise in profits was credited to the continued momentum of its Debenhams brand, coupled with the “discernible improvement” of its once struggling youth brands, leading all arms of the company to continue trading profitability.
The company also reported sped up the progress of its transformation plan, which aims to shift the former department store retailer to a stock light, capital light online marketplace, with a focus on premium beauty and fashion accessories.
Panmure Liberum analysts Wayne Brown and Anubhav Molhotra said the company’s “earnings momentum is nicely positive” with PLT now set to be “a centre piece of the fashion marketplace model”.