ScS to pull out of House of Fraser concessions

The furniture specialist said it would cease trading from all 27 of its locations within House of Fraser stores by the end of January 2019 because the partnership was “no longer beneficial” to the business.

The concessions accounted for just 2.7% of the retailer’s order intake during the 12 weeks to October 20, ScS said, after suffering a 52.5% slump in orders across the quarter.

The nosedive in performance came after HoF’s slump into administration and its subsequent £90m acquisition by Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct.

ScS said it was now “working with affected employees” and would be “looking to re-deploy them and their valuable skills and experience” within the wider ScS business “where possible”.

ScS revealed details of its exit from HoF as it unveiled details of its first quarter trading performance.

The retailer said like-for-like order intake advanced 1.2% in the 12 weeks to October 20, although that was dragged down by the performance of its HoF concessions.

Within the core ScS business, like-for-like order intake increased 4.5%.

ScS boss David Knight said: “I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our colleagues who have worked in our House of Fraser concessions over the past few years for their dedication and hard work.

“However, given developments in House of Fraser over the last few months, it has become clear that the partnership was no longer beneficial to ScS.”