Joules says Next ends stake purchase talks, founder to return in product role

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Sep 13, 2022

Joules announced late on Tuesday what some had expected for a while. The talks about retail giant Next taking an equity stake in the business have ended.

Just over a month ago, it had emerged that Next was possibly to take a 25% stake in the firm at no less than the share price at the time, or around £15 million. 

But with the share price having subsequently fallen and Joules admitting that times were really tough, observers had predicted that a Next deal was unlikely to go through.

The news sent the share price down even further and meant that the total market value of Joules was a mere £11.66 million.

However, Joules did say that “discussions regarding [it] potentially adopting the Next Total Platform in the future will remain ongoing. The company has an ongoing positive relationship with Next, successfully selling Joules products through Next's Label channel which will continue”.

It also said it “continues to develop and execute its strategy and turnaround plan, which focuses on driving higher profitability through: a better pricing and promotional strategy; focusing on more profitable product categories with shorter time to market; optimising the group's channel mix; and a continuing strong focus on cost control. The group's outlook for the full year remains unchanged”.

New Joules CEO Jonathon Brown joined on Tuesday and also announced that founder Tom Joule, who'd been a non-executive director of the group, “will lead, in an executive capacity, the company's renewed product development process for the forthcoming seasons to oversee the product offer and to ensure it surprises and delights our customers”.