M&S buys into online lingerie

The online venture is a new departure for M&S

Marks & Spencer, the UK's largest seller of underwear, has taken a stake in an online lingerie company.

Splendour.com was founded by Mark Pilkington, former chief executive of Gossard.

The firm will sell the kind of upmarket lingerie currently found only at specialist underwear retailers.

David Norgrove, chairman of Marks & Spencer Ventures, the retailer's investment division, said: "Splendour.com has an excellent business model and an experienced management team.

"We expect to bring our own expertise to it and to learn from our involvement, as well as delivering direct value for our shareholders."

Summer launch

As part of the investment deal, he will join M&SV's managing director Maurice Helfgott on the Splendour board.

Marks & Spencer is currently trying to reverse a recent slump in its fortunes.

But although it has been hit by falling sales of its clothes ranges, M&S still sells more than a third of the £1.5bn-worth of underwear bought by Britons every year.

Courtaulds Textiles, M&S' main clothing supplier and owner of Mr Pilkington's former employer, Gossard, last week agreed to a takeover from Wonderbra maker Sara Lee of the US.

A spokesman for M&S declined to specify how big the stake was, but the investment is believed to be less than £5m.

Splendour.com expects to make its first products, aimed at the upper end of the lingerie market, available to UK customers over the Net by the summer.

M&S Ventures said in a statement this was its second investment since its creation last year. Its first initiative was the backing of Media Technology Venture's digital commerce fund.