Littlewoods up for grabs again

Littlewoods aims to erase its fuddy-duddy image

Littlewoods has returned to profit, underlining the success of its revival efforts.

And the Liverpool-based firm said its stores have attracted interest from a number of potential suitors.

The privately-owned group said it was now exploring options to sell part or all of the High Street business.

The firm has been through a tumultuous time lately, and has struggled to cast off its fuddy-duddy image.

Its troubles were also caused by the wider squeeze of middle-of-the-road retailers, which led to the demise of C&A and problems for Marks & Spencer.

Healthier balance

Littlewoods launched a radical restructuring to get back on track, including revamping stores, cutting jobs and replacing its chief executive.

Those efforts have bolstered the firm's balance sheet significantly.

Littlewoods reported pre-tax profits of £34.5m ($51.8m) in the 12 months to 30 April, compared with losses of £14.5m the previous year.

It has previously been in takeover discussions with the catalogue firm NBrown.