Germany’s Douglas Holding says no plans to sell any units

German cosmetics retailer Douglas Holding AG, yesterday said it had no plans in place to sell any of its units, refuting a report from a German magazine.

Manager Magazine had earlier reported that Douglas was planning to sell bookstore chain Thalia, confectionary store Hussel and the Appelrath-Cuepper clothing chain.

"There is no sale process for any part of the group," said a spokesman for the Hagen-based company.

Private equity firm Advent International and the Kreke family, had acquired Douglas last year for $2 billion and had said that it would spend €500 million to grow its perfumeries business through acquisitions. (See: German retailer Douglas Holding to recommend $2-bn takeover offer from Advent International)

Early this month several media reported that it is the final bidder for French perfume and cosmetics retailer Nocibe SA, which its owner British private equity firm Charterhouse Capital Partners hopes to get around €500 million ($650 million).

Douglas owns over 1,900 stores, more than 1,500 of which are in Germany and the US. It has more than 1,168 perfume stores in 18 European countries, according to its website. It also owns 295 ''Thalia'' book stores, 207 ''Christ'' jewellery stores 13 ''AppelrathCüpper'' fashion stores, and 235 ''Hussel'' confectionery shops.

Facing competition from online retailers such as Amazon, in March Douglas Holding had hired management consultants McKinsey to advise on restructuring Thalia chain of more than 200 book shops in Germany.

Traditional bookselling through book stores have taken a beating with the advent of digital publishing and the growth of the e-book market, and Thalia, like all other bookstore chains, has seen its revenues decline steadily in recent years.

Sales in Thalia bookstores in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, declined by 1.5 per cent, but overall sales revenues are up by 3.2 per cent with online sales accounting for 14 per cent of its total revenue due to Thalia launching its own e-reader in 2011.

Hussel was established in 1949 and currently holds a 10 per cent market share in Germany.

In the 2011/12 fiscal year, Hussel confectioneries increased their sales by 1.7 per cent to just under €100 million although Douglas had reduced the number of stores from 245 to 235.

Douglas Holding AG, a subsidiary of the retail brand AppelrathCüpper is headquartered in Cologne for a modern tradition in quality ladieswear retail.

Through 13 stores, AppelrathCüpper sells international collections of women clothing brands, including Armani, Burberry, Boss, Desigual, Marc Cain, Maison Scotch, Marc O'Polo, Napapijri and Tommy Hilfiger.

It has 751 employees , and generated revenues of €122 million in 2011/12 fiscal.