Retail veteran on lookout for fresh investment opportunities

The 40-year-old has established TIM Group Holdings, a multi-million pound investment vehicle backed with proceeds from the £300m sale of Republic in 2010.

In his first major interview, Mr Whitworth spoke to the Yorkshire Post about the kind of investments and roles he is looking for.

“It’s either going to be repairing something that’s broken or developing something from scratch and it’s going to be a mix between executive and non-executive,” he said.

“It’s not going to be plural in the normal sense of it being multiple non-exec roles. It’s going to look more like three or four businesses where I have differing roles.

“I’m very keen to stay in retail. It’s the thing that gives me the buzz and it’s the thing that I’m good at.”

He stood down as chief executive of Republic earlier this year, although he and business partner Carl Brewins remain shareholders and non-executive directors on the board, which is chaired by former Asda CEO Andy Bond.

It is a challenging time for the retail industry with businesses facing cyclical and structural pressures. Consumer spending is squeezed while high street players are face increasing competition from the internet.

Mr Whitworth believes successful retailers will prosper by “building on the multi-channel experience”. He added: “I don’t think you can do pure play.

“I would be very surprised if we don’t see a pure play retailer coming to the high street in the not-too-distant future.”

He gave the example of Asos and said “it is absolutely critical” for the online fashion retailer to establish a presence on the high street.

Mr Whitworth started his retail career as a Saturday boy at Best Company, a jeans shop, in 1989 and thoroughly enjoyed it. He was halfway through his A-levels at Boston Spa Comprehensive.

He said: “I loved this concept of retail; a very simple concept where you meet lots of different people, you make them feel great wearing new clothes and in return they pay you for that. With the proceeds you make more people happy and grow the business. I thought it was fantastic.”

He added: “I came home, told Mum and Dad I had found what I really wanted to do in life. To them, I would finish my A-levels, do a degree and then work for Marks & Spencer, because that’s retail for them.

“After much debate in my mind, I said I’m going to leave my A-levels and work for this little jeans shop.

“The response was ‘not under this roof’ so I moved out and started work.”

The business was expanding but had no infrastructure; Mr Whitworth helped to develop finance, distribution, marketing and IT departments.

The business opened new stores across Yorkshire through the 1990s, but was losing money by the end of the decade.

Mr Whitworth led a management buyout in 2002, renamed the company Republic and, with Mr Brewins, started the turnaround.

Back then, Republic was a £25m turnover business with 25 stores. Eight years later, Republic was turning over £225m from 120 stores and was reputed to be one of the most profitable retailers in the industry.

Mr Whitworth said he “galvanised” the workforce, formed in-house teams to control of design, sourcing and marketing operations, developed new brands, tripled the average store size and launched an e-commerce platform.

Staff numbers increased from 250 to 2,500.

Private equity firm 3i took a small stake in 2004 as the business grew and a year later Republic sold a significant shareholding to Change Capital, run by Luc Vandevelde and Roger Holmes.

“I was now in business with the former chairman and chief executive of M&S,” said Mr Whitworth, recalling the expectations of his parents, who are “thrilled to bits” with the company’s success.

“I am immensely proud of Republic,” he added. “It’s a great business, full of great people.”