Schuh dismisses prospect of a sale

The chief executive of Schuh has dismissed the prospect of the company being sold off, despite its US parent facing pressure from an activist investor to offload the business. Photo credit: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire

Boss Colin Temple told the Press Association he was confident in the footwear chain’s performance and that the retailer will continue to prosper under the ownership of Genesco, which bought the firm for £100m in 2011.

“I’m not sat here and nervous that we will be put up for sale in the foreseeable future,” he said.

“I am intrigued about what will happen with the activist investor but I’m confident that it makes sense to be part of the organisation.”

Mr Temple, who was speaking on the sidelines of the Retail Week Live conference, said the retailer has benefited from “being part of the wider group” and that “if the activist investors were able to understand that, it might help”.

The comments come after Legion Partners wrote to Genesco last week, saying that the UK footwear chain was among the businesses that stood to improve under “separate ownership”.

It added that it was “unacceptable” for Genesco to continue operating with a “disparate set of assets with such a poor record of value creation”.

Mr Temple said: “There is value in our business product and processes and that’s not going to change.”

Schuh - which has 105 stores across the UK and is headquartered in Livingston, Scotland - has yet to report its 2017 results.