Next planning sale and leaseback of warehouses

As part of a coronavirus mitigation drive, fashion retailer Next is looking to sell three warehouses in Doncaster and its Leicester headquarters.

Sky News reports that Acre has been appointed to sell the big sheds and that Savills will market the 334,000 sq ft head office. .

All the transactions will be sale and leasebacks and will net Next tens of millions of pounds to boost its cash reserves during the coronavirus downturn. It previously suggested the number could be circa £100m when taking into account all its freehold properties.

Earlier this month Next sounded a warning about the coming months. It has worked out three scenarios in which sales could be down by as much as £1bn next year.

A statement said: “We have no experience of a similar crisis so there is no way of predicting the extent that the effect coronavirus will have on our Retail and Online sales. It is not yet clear how widespread the virus will be at any one time, how long the pandemic will last and what the medium to long term effect of this pandemic will be on consumer behaviour.”

The new also follows the retailer halting all online orders and closing its warehouses last week following staff feedback.