Millionaire investor buys Joules stake, doesn't rule out bid

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Oct 11, 2022

Beleaguered fashion retailer Joules may have found a saviour. Multimillionaire car dealer Richard Teatum has built an 8.9% stake in the retailer, saying he was mulling the option to buy more of the “fantastic investment”.

The owner of the Stoneacre Motor Group told The Times newspaper he hoped to meet Tom Joule, the founder of Joules and its biggest shareholder, “pretty soon”.
 
The share buy for around £1 million was disclosed in a regulatory filing late last week. He also told financial website This is Money he has been buying into Joules, currently trading at around 9p a share, as it is “massively undervalued… I think it is very cheap. The value is fantastic and I'll continue buying. The net asset value is obviously a lot higher than the market-cap but I think long-term this will be a fantastic investment.” 

The businessman also revealed that he had received a letter inviting him to meet the board only days after becoming the second-largest shareholder. Teatum said there was no date in the diary for meeting Joule “as I’ve got a busy schedule. But I’ve been in touch.”

Joules, however, has so far declined to comment on Teatum’s stake-building.

Teatum, 65, whose Doncaster-based group has about 100 car dealerships, said he liked to “dip” into the stock market, but this was his first investment in a clothing retailer.
 
More pressingly for Joules is its immediate survival. 

Having failed to convince Next to invest £15 million in the business last month, the retailer said Monday it was contemplating a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) as a possible route to stave off collapse. 

The statement said Joules was still looking at raising equity from investors but added: “The company also continues to consider a range of other potential options which may be available to it, where a CVA is one of a number of such alternatives.”

Tom Joule, who owns 21.7% of the company, floated the business in 2016 at 195p a share. The shares traded as high as 300p in summer 2021 but have collapsed since.