British lifestyle brand and retailer, Joules has confirmed its intention to appoint administrators after failing to secure emergency investment.
On 7 November, the company announced that it was in advanced discussions with a number of strategic investors to provide a cornerstone investment in an equity raise process. It was also in discussions regarding a bridge financing proposal in order to enable continued progress to be made with the refinancing plans.
However, the discussions were not successful and have now terminated, with Joules resolving to file a notice of intention to appoint Will Wright, Ryan Grant and Chris Pole of Interpath Advisory as administrators to the company and Joules Limited, and Will Wright and Ryan Grant to The Garden Trading Company Limited and Joules Developments Limited as soon as reasonably practicable.
Joules – which has enjoyed a number of high profile partnerships with licensed brands and had also made a good name for itself as a lifestyle brand in the industry – had been in talks with Next in the summer over taking a stake in the company. These discussions ended in September.
Founder Tom Joule – who started out selling clothes at country shows in 1989 – said in a statement that he believed Joules remained “a desirable, differentiated brand that, with the right model and structure, can thrive again”.
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