FIVE years ago London department store Harvey Nicholas was a poorly performing division of the Burton Group. Then Burton sold it for £54 million to Hong Kong entrepreneur Dickson Poon who pumped in money "to change its old fashioned image. Fashionable designers took concessionary space, the general ambience was brought up to date and the restaurant become a favourite haunt of the Slone Rangers set.
The store gained further kudos from the success of the TV comedy show Absolutely Fabulous as a temple of spending for the main character played by Joanna Lumley. Also the Princess of Wales is known to be a valued client, adding to its cachet for the upwardly mobile. Harvey Nicholas, once returning operating losses, has turned round and over a 3 year period generated profits of £6.5 million on sales of £75 million.
This week `Nicks' announced it is to go public in a flotation worth £160 million. Poon's Hong Kong quoted Dickson Concepts will place up to 49.9 per cent of the equity with institutional investors. Alas, there will be no public issue so the ordinary punter will have to wait awhile to buy into this triumph of retailing style and substance.
