Agent Provocateur lined up for possible sale as boss Garry Hogarth steps down

Agent Provocateur: a new boss will be unveiled in the next few weeks

8 February 2016

Private equity group 3i was a step closer to selling Agent Provocateur today as the luxury lingerie business parted company with chief executive Garry Hogarth.

A new boss is being lined up and will be unveiled in the next few weeks. Chairman Chris Woodhouse suggested he or she will be expected to prepare the firm for a sale. He said: “It would be reasonable to expect that whoever takes it on will be with 3i during the next phase, but we won’t be selling any time soon and certainly not this year.”

The decision for Hogarth to leave after nearly 10 years with the chain comes after a £727,000 review by Goldman Sachs. Woodhouse explained: “We’ve been talking with Garry for a while. We carried out a strategic review of the business asking where we took it from here, where is 3i’s position and whether they want to stay with it.

“Garry’s done a fantastic job but in terms of being committed to the next stage, we agreed it was right that we part ways.” The new boss is expected to be an external candidate, and comes after profits plunged by nearly a quarter last year because of the review fees and depreciation.

However, sales jumped 16% to £61.7 million in the year to March 28, 2015 and underlying profits — which exclude one off costs hit £10 million.

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Agent Provocateur lined up for possible sale as boss Garry Hogarth steps down

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