Next sounds a reassuring note over HQ sell-off plan

CASH-RAISING MOVE HAS ‘ABSOLUTELY NO EFFECT ON STAFF OR STORES’, SAYS RETAILER

RETAIL giant Next hopes to sell its national headquarters in the effort to free up spare cash during the global economic emergency.

The high street chain – which has shut all its stores and closed its online operation during the lockdown – wants to sell the Leicestershire head office, then lease it back.

It also wants to sell and lease back three warehouses, in a separate package, as part of its mitigation plans for the downturn.

Company documents suggest the sales could raise £100 million, although the commercial property market – just like other industrial sectors – has inevitably taken a hit from the economic shock of the virus.

Next has brought in property specialists Savills to market the Enderby head office – its home pretty much since the day it was founded in the early 1980s – while Acre is acting as agent for the warehouses.

A spokesman for Next said: “The sale and leaseback of these properties has absolutely no effect on staff or stores.” Last month Next chief executive Lord (Simon) Wolfson told reporters the high street giant was in it for the long-term – and that the huge impact of coronavirus on the UK economy would, one day pass.

Its plans to deal with the crisis include working around a worst-case scenario of a three month company shutdown, leading to a £1 billion drop in turnover over the next year.

The business said it could “comfortably sustain” the hit without exceeding its current banking and bond facilities. In its best-case modelling, full price sales could be down £445 million – or 10 per cent year-on-year. However, since Next has closed all 700 stores and recently went one step further and closed its online and warehousing operations. It is hoping to reopen its website very soon.

The high street chain wants to sell the Leicestershire head office, then lease it back