Cowgill comeback on cards to back menswear retail buyout
Peter Cowgill, the former executive chair of JD Sports, is mulling a deal to buy Mainline Menswear from JD in a deal that would see him return to a retail business role.
The Telegraph reported over the weekend that Cowgill had been tapped up by a private equity investor to back a buyout of Mainline which made £13.1m profit on turnover of £66.1m in the last set of published accounts to the end of January 2022.
TheBusinessDesk.com has also heard Cowgill’s name linked with a revival of the iconic Manchester Oi Polloi retail brand, which JD bought in May 2021, under Cowgill, but closed down in March 2023 after a review of non-core retail brands by new chief executive Regis Schulz.
He still maintains an interest in the accountancy practice Cowgills, which he has described as his first love, but his twenty year on-off role at JD came to an end in 2022 after a bid for Foot Asylum was blocked by competition authorities with his actions leading to a fine from the Competition and Markets Authority.
Cowgill left his role as executive chairman with the Bury-based sports and athleisurewear giant in last year. Following this, he agreed a deal with JD not to work for, or advise, any of its competitors, for which he will receive £3.5m over two years.
He also agreed a consultancy deal with JD for an expected period of three years, with non-compete clauses. In November 2022 he was appointed as the first non-executive chairman of Trafford Park-based The Fragrance Shop.
Mainline was started in Scarborough by former footballer Stuart Hicks and wasn’t included in the disposal of other non-core brands by JD to Frasers Group in December 2022.
The businesses included in the divestment were: Base Childrenswear, Kids Cavern, Pretty Green, Prevu Studio, Nicholas Deakins, Missy Empire, Clothingsites (incl Brown Bag Clothing trading website), and Watch Shop, as well as Cricket, Giulio, Choice, Tessuti (incl Xile), Scotts, Rascal Clothing, and Topgrade Sportswear.
Around the same time JD streamlined its brands and the Northern Quarter store Oi Polloi was closed and relaunched as Hip Store, one of JD’s widely used urban fascias.
