Jigsaw fashion chain seeks buyer
The High Street fashion chain Jigsaw is looking for a buyer.
Controlling shareholder John Robinson, who founded the firm in 1970, has appointed KPMG to help with approaches by potential buyers or investors.
A Jigsaw spokesperson confirmed: "There have been a number of approaches directly to Jigsaw, around the purchase of a minority or majority stake. "
"No sale process has been activated but we continue to have conversations with interested parties," she said.
Jigsaw has more than 80 stand alone stores, as well as concessions in department stores such as John Lewis and Harvey Nichols.
It has a small international presence as well, in Bloomingdales in the US as well as outlets in Australia and the Netherlands.
The company's most recent accounts for 2016 show Jigsaw had a turnover of £95m and profits of £6.2m.
The news comes against a background of weakening retail sales and rising inflation, which is squeezing consumer spending power.
This week, figures from the business lobby group the CBI showed the sharpest fall in September retail sales since the crisis in 2009.
Last week, official figures showed third-quarter retail growth slowed to a year-on-year rate of 1.5%, its lowest since the second quarter of 2013.
The figures come as the Bank of England contemplates its first interest rate rise in a decade.