Vision Express seeks growth after sale

Vision Express will put stores and staff before short-sighted shareholders, if a recommended EUR491 million (£346 million) offer from French private equity house PAI Management succeeds.

Vision Express managing director Simon Innes was optimistic the sale of parent GrandVision would go through, and believes the 194-store UK chain will prosper out of the listing limelight.

Innes said: 'We can spend more time and resources investing in our stores and people to drive long-term growth.

'If you sell toys and provide a good service, customers might come back next week, but in our business the average purchase cycle is two and a half years.'

Innes is to reveal an improved store look at Birmingham's Bullring next month. The retailer aims to soften its image and appear more shopper-friendly.

PAI has lodged a EUR21 (£14.79) per share bid for GrandVision, which is listed on the Paris Bourse. Trading was suspended and other interested parties have until September 12 to bid.

'The founding shareholders believe the operational and strategic vision may no longer correspond with the expectations of the market,' said PAI.

Retail Knowledge Bank director Robert Clark said Vision Express has caught up with Boots and Dollond & Aitchison in recent years, but all are behind market leader SpecSavers in a competitive climate.

Last year, Vision Express made a pre-tax profit of£9.6 million on sales of£211.7 million.