700 jobs and 25 stores under threat at ‘unfixable’ Jaeger

HIGH street fashion retailer Jaeger is poised to be pushed into administration, putting 25 stores and almost 700 jobs at risk.

Its private equity owner Better Capital has announced it offloaded the chain to a mystery buyer – understood to be Edinburgh Woollen Mill.

The private equity group bought Jaeger in 2012 for £19.5m, but it has struggled to turn a profit. It was hoped that the shift in control to Edinburgh Woollen Mill, owned by billionaire Philip Day, would secure the future of the chain.

But yesterday it emerged Jaeger could be put into administration, with Day likely to shed most of the stores and turn it into a brand sold in concessions and online.

The Sunday Times quoted a source who said Jaeger was ‘unfixable’ in its current form. Jaeger was founded in 1884 by businessman Lewis Tomalin, and received a Royal Warrant in 1910 when it began creating woollen suits. Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn modelled for the brand, but it began to fall out of favour in the 1980s as European rivals entered the market.

It has also changed ownership several times in recent years. In 1967 Coats Viyella bought it, before selling it to entrepreneur Richard Thompson – who soon after sold it to Harold Tillman.

Tillman sold Jaeger to Better Capital in 2012, and last year sales fell from £84.2m to £78.4m, while it booked a loss of £5.4m.

A Jaeger spokesman said: ‘Jaeger has made good operational progress and is performing more strongly. The business now needs scale and further resources to grow; this is the right time for a new strategic investor.’