Schuh Group bought by US firm for £100m

British footwear giant the Schuh Group has been bought by American retailer Genesco Inc for £100 million. Schuh's core product selection consists of a broad range of branded casual and athletic footwear complemented by a private label

offering targeted at its 15- to 24- year old core customer.

The retailer has 59 stores in the UK and Ireland and 16 concessions in Republic stores. Genesco chief executive Robert Dennis said: "We believe Schuh has the potential to roughly double its store base to 100 to 120 freestanding stores in its current geographic market."

Schuch has said it will distribute £37.3 million of the proceeds of the sale to staff. In the 12 months to 27 March, Schuh generated sales of £164 million.

Genesco, which owns the Journeys retail stores in the US, said it did not plan to rebrand Schuh but was looking to benefit from Schuh’s expertise in private label brands.

Dennis said: "Private label hasn't been a big focus for Journeys historically, but given Schuh's success and the combined volume of the two businesses, we see it as a growth opportunity going forward."

Colin Temple, Schuh managing director, and Mark Crutchley, finance director, will continue in their current leadership of the Schuh management team.

Temple commented: "Like Journeys, we specialize in providing our customers with branded casual and athletic footwear styles that are in line with current fashion trends and with a breadth and depth of assortment that is difficult to find elsewhere. We are excited to join the Genesco family and believe the combination of our talented organizations will help to further distinguish our concepts from the competition and accelerate our future growth plans."

Image: Schuh