Bonmarche Owner Fashions Public Market Debut

The high street fashion retailer Bonmarche is preparing to defy the gloom afflicting Britain’s retail industry by floating on the stock market less than two years after falling into administration.

Sky News understands that Sun European Partners, an investment firm, has appointed bankers from Investec (LSE: INVP.L - news) to oversee a public listing of Bonmarche at some point in the next 12 months.

A move to list its shares would cap a remarkable turnaround for the retailer of clothing for women aged 50 and over.

Bonmarche was owned by Peacocks, the fashion chain, when it succumbed to intense high street competition early last year.

The Peacocks chain was subsequently sold to Edinburgh Woollen Mill, while Bonmarche was offloaded to Sun through a process known as a pre-pack administration, which enables a new owner to shed unprofitable stores.

Sun ditched about one-third of Bonmarche’s stores, a move which has paid off with the chain returning a profit of more than £10m during the first year of its new ownership.

Bonmarche executives are now hunting locations for new shops to accelerate the growth of its 261-strong estate.

The chain is one of a huge number to have sought lease renegotiations with landlords amid difficult trading conditions.

Clothing retailers such as Marks & Spencer (Other OTC: MAKSY - news) have seen protracted declines in like-for-like sales, while others including Nicole Farhi have been forced to call in administrators in recent weeks.

Sun European, which has an extensive track record investing in the UK retail sector through its ownership of Dreams, American Golf and SCS Sofas, declined to comment.