Morrison McConnell

Service(s): Restructuring Services
Sector: Retail

Fashion brand owner, Morrison McConnell, a buy out from the iconic Coates Viyella organisation owned the UK rights to classic brands including Van Heusen, Peter England, Viyella menswear, Tootal and Rocola. This £15m Derbyshire-based wholesale and retail business had all the ingredients but had been hit hard by rising competition from TM Lewin, Tywhitt and other major retail suppliers. 

The business, which had personal guarantees from the Chairman, became over-leveraged and management realised that it needed to be restructured. FRP Advisory’s Restructuring Team, led by Adrian Doble,was engaged as Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO). 

The role involved a full restructuring of all functions of the business, working with the Chairman of the group on a daily basis to deliver improved performance, significant cash wins and consequential shareholder value. 

Through a major restructuring of overheads, FRP Advisory’s Restructuring Team was able to stem losses.  Then, by creating a base plan that addressed inadequate staff training and ordering processes, the Chairman and CRO worked tirelessly to re-engineer the debt structure through buying, order placing and warehousing. A full outsourcing of design and supply chain was curtailed by a negotiated sale of the Van Heusen brand back to the original owner.  This left the business debt free and secure for the foreseeable future albeit in slimmed down form. 

Jeff Leadley, CEO of Morrision McConnell (Van Heusen), commented:

"Without the intervention of Adrian and his Restructuring team, we probably would never have reached the position where we could conduct an orderly sale of the business. The team worked tirelessly and offered far more support than expected, as they effectively joined the company for a short time and shared the burden with us."

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