Pentland Brands, one of the world’s largest sports, outdoor and fashion companies, has confirmed it is planning to axe around 100 jobs as part of a business restructure, designed to simplify its relationships with retailers and suppliers and boost the potential of its brands.
The company, which is the majority owner of JD Sports Fashion Limited and owner of brands including Speedo, Boxfresh, Ellesse, and Red or Dead, says its plans also aim to pave the way for future investment in new brands and follows a company division last year which saw it organised into two divisions – Active (Speedo, Canterbury of New Zealand, Berghaus and Mitre) and Footwear (Ted Baker, Ellesse, Boxfresh, Kickers, Kangaroos and Red or Dead).
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The restructure will see Pentland, which employs around 1,700 people globally, consolidate its four UK brand sites with its Nottingham office becoming the home of both Swim (Speedo) and Teamsports (Canterbury and Mitre), and Sunderland continuing as the home of Berghaus. As a result, the company’s operations in Stockport and Wakefield will be relocated to Nottingham and Sunderland in early 2018.
According to the company, the shake-up will create a single, “simpler” customer organisation, and boost commercial capability and efficiency thanks to greater brand alignment.
“This reorganisation is in response to our retailer and partner need for us to simplify how we work with them,” explains CEO Andy Long. “It will help us to build our portfolio of active and footwear brands and support the smooth integration of future acquisitions into the Pentland family.”
The company says it will, wherever possible, work to minimise the impact on its employees by exploring flexible working options and will make every effort to support them through redundancy packages and recruitment advice.
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By GlobalDataMeanwhile, Pentland is also investing and launching SAP across its portfolio in early 2018 and has revealed plans to launch pentlandconnect.com, a new website where our customers can order its brands direct.
The site will allow customers to place orders 24/7 and check stock in real-time, with roll-out currently planned for the first quarter of 2018.
