The owner of Wehkamp, the venture investor Apax, get the broom through the online store and its subsidiaries. Fonq goes on sale and the top of Wehkamp been dismissed.
RFS Holding confirms in response to reports in the Telegraph which CEO Gert the Weerdhof left. “Gert and the Supervisory Board came to the conclusion that there is another form of leadership is needed to RFS Holland to help Holding on with its ambitious growth strategy,” said a spokesman
Volgens Telegraph would be fired CFO Ed Visser. But that is not the case Wehkamp. Fisherman stops because of personal circumstances. “This has nothing to do with the departure of the CEO,” the spokesman said.
Fonq in the window
in addition to management changes at Wehkamp Apax would have put in the window webwarenhuis Fonq. “Banks have already examined whether there is interest in the market for online gift store, ‘says an insider at the Telegraph. CEO Patrick Kerssemakers says not prompted to confirm that Fonq stands in the window.
Online Warehouse Wehkamp August 2015 went on to investor Apax. The shares were previously held by RFS Holland, which was also owned next Wehkamp of companies Fonq, Create2fit and Lacent.
Crackdown
Apax paid about € 450 million for RFS Holding. Former KPN CEO Ad Scheepbouwer held a 40% stake in the company. That Apax now manages at Wehkamp is no surprise. The venture investor is known for his tough approach.
In the Netherlands Apax became known through the acquisition of newspaper publisher PCM 2004 (Trouw, Het Parool, Volkskrant). The publishing company was loaded with debt and continued large losses behind when Apax again sold the company in 2007.
The tasks of the Weerdhof be provisionally taken over by Johnny Crowe – an experienced CEO in the tech business. The Briton recent years has held various positions at Ringier Axel Springer Media. He was in the period 2013 – 2015 chief digital officer at the German / Swiss media company
Under pressure
The results of RFS is under pressure. In 2014, the turnover decreased from € 501.5 million to € 498 million. The operating result decreased by 32% to € 29 million. Wehkamp would face much competition from new entrants in the merchant market, such as Zalando.
In the years before the sale to Apax RFS paid large dividends to the owners. In 2012 allowed it € 50 million marked a year later another € 40 million addition, the company invested € 100 million in an ultramodern distribution center in Zwolle, which opened last year
De combination of hefty profit-taking and investment seems to have hindered the growth of Wehkamp. The company was once a leader in online apparel sales, but it has in recent years overtaken on all sides by competitors.
interest
In 2012, Ahold and Bol.com even bought a takeover of Wehkamp, but when Bol.com itself was acquired by Ahold, there was no longer. Now Wehkamp has fallen behind the competition, peers deem unlikely that large international retailers like Amazon and Zalando still interested in the Dutch online store.
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