I Saw It First founder exits after Frasers buy, CEO stays on

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Aug 15, 2022

Frasers Group may have brought Missguided founder Nitin pass back to run that business after it acquired it out of administration, but it’s not gone for continuity with another buy, that of I Saw It First.

The founder of the company has exited after selling the business with Jalal Kamani, brother of Boohoo co-founder Mahmud Kamani, having stepped down as a director.

His sons Tayyab and Mustafa have done the same, but CEO Greg Pateras is staying on. He's only been in his role since last November when he moved from Matalan.

Documents filed at Companies House, show that buying, merchandising and brand director Leanne Holmes has also stepped down and that Stephhen Mucklow is now a director. He’s a long-time associate of Frasers Group majority owner Mike Ashley.

The filings also show that long-time Mike Ashley associate Stephen Mucklow has become a director. 

The brand was loss-making in the year for which its most recent accounts were filed, but it has been adding customers and raising sales.

For the year to last October, it said sales rose 30% to reach £74.7 million, with the UK particularly strong, but it reported a £7.7 million deficit on a pre-tax basis. This was wider than the £7.5 million loss of the previous year.

Its UK sales rose to £69.3 million from £50.9 million in the previous year. However, sales to the EU fell to £4.5 million from £5.7 million and in the rest of the world they fell from £1 million to £915,000.