Arcadia's Evans brand sold to Australia's City Chic for £23m

The first part of Philip Green’s Arcadia retail empire has been sold off with the Evans brand going to Australia-based City Chic Collective for £23m.

Arcadia, which also owns the Topshop, Burton, Dorothy Perkins and Wallis brands, collapsed into administration last month after sales collapsed amid the coronavirus pandemic and it failed to secure emergency funding to ride out the crisis.

Administrators Deloitte said the sale excluded the Evans stores and described City Chic as a “global omnichannel retailer specialising in plus-size women’s apparel, footwear and accessories”.

Under the terms of the deal, City Chic will acquire the Evans brand and intellectual property, customer base and inventory. Physical stores "will continue to trade for the time being", Deloitte said, adding that the transaction was expected to complete on December 23.

"The process to secure new owners for the other Arcadia Group brands is ongoing. There have been significant expressions of interest for all brands. The Joint Administrators expect to provide a further update in the new year," Deloitte said in a statement.

Established in 1930, Evans is a specialty retailer of plus-size clothing and footwear. In the financial year to August 2020, its website had 19m visits and generated around £23m of sales and the wholesale business delivered sales of about £3m.

City Chic is a collective of customer-led brands including City Chic, Avenue, CCX, Hips & Curves and Fox & Royal and has a network of 96 stores across Australia and New Zealand (ANZ), websites operating in ANZ and the US; marketplace and wholesale partnerships with major US retailers; and a wholesale business with European and UK partners.