Barely two weeks after shutting down its Angelo store in Sarit Centre, Nairobi Securities Exchange listed fashion retailer Deacons East Africa PLC has announced plans to shut down undisclosed number of “unprofitable stores” by the end of next month. A move the company says will lead to “undisclosed” number of job losses.
According to the Business Daily, the closure has been attributed to gloomy sales which have forced the company to restructure its business.
Deacons is engaged in the retailing of franchise fashion products and currently runs about 46 stores across Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Mauritius employing approximately 350 people.
“We are restructuring and some stores which are not making profits will be closed. This will impact staff numbers. The process is ongoing and will be complete by end of next month. We are working on details and going through the paces so I don’t know how many stores will be closed and how many employees will be impacted.” The company’s CEO Wahome Muchiri was quoted by The Business Daily Newspaper.
The company released it full year results on April 24th, posting an operating loss of Ksh 385 Million in financial year ending 31 December 2016 compared to an operating profit of Ksh 141.6 Million made in 2015.
The company in August 2016 listed listed 123,558,228 shares on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) at an offer price of Ksh 15.00. On Thursday, the counter closed the day at a low of Sh 4.4 per share as shown in the chart below.
Deacons EA owns and manages a chain of franchize fashion and lifestyle retail stores namely, Truworths, Identity, Mr. Price Home, Mr. Price Clothing, 4u2, Angelo, Adidas, Lifefitness and Babyshop.
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