NEXT ups stake in Reiss to 72%

NEXT and the Reiss family have bought out private equity firm Warburg Princus’ 34% interest in Reiss for £128m, increasing NEXT’s stake in the business from 51% to 72%.

The deal is expected to finalise in mid-October 2023, and it will also mean the Reiss family’s holding will increase to 22% and the Reiss management team will hold 6% equity in the business.

Today's announcement follows a period of strong continued growth for Reiss under the leadership of CEO Christos Angelides (since 2017), who will remain in that role. Angelides previously worked for NEXT for 28 years – serving 14 years on the board as Group Product Director.

In the year to 28 January 2023, Reiss achieved total sales of £324.6m, an increase of 26.4% on the previous year. Profit before tax in the same period was £51.6m, an increase of 50.5% on the prior year.

NEXT first invested in Reiss, which was founded by retailer David Reiss more than 50 years ago, in 2021 when it acquired a 25% stake. It had an option to acquire a further 26%, which it did last year.

Reiss's websites and online operations, both in the UK and overseas, remain contracted to NEXT through NEXT's Total Platform, which went live in February 2022 and which has served as a launch pad for Reiss's growth both in the UK, and overseas.

NEXT CEO Simon Wolfson said: “Reiss has performed exceptionally well since we first invested in March 2021. This success has been driven by the strength of its brand, first class management and the benefits of Total Platform; we look forward to continuing to develop the business with Christos and the Reiss team.

“Warburg Pincus has been an excellent partner throughout the term of our investment and we have enjoyed working with them during the last two years.”

Reiss CEO Christos Angelides commented: “We are appreciative of the excellent partnership with Warburg Pincus over the past seven years - their expertise has been instrumental to our sustained development and they have been a strong and trusted partner.

“We look forward to continuing to focus on creating authentic and timeless collections for our customers and over the next few months we will be launching a number of new initiatives that will both expand the breadth and choice of our collections worldwide.”