Selfridges owner admits four billion pound price tag was ‘high’

The Thai owner of Selfridges has admitted that, in hindsight, the four billion pound price tag the company forked out for the British department store was “high”. In what is his first interview since buying Selfridges, Tos Chirathivat, executive chair and chief executive of Central Group, told the Financial Times: “You would want the lowest price possible to buy something… is four billion pounds high? Yes, it’s high, especially in this environment.”

Chirathivat, who through his family-owned conglomerate Central purchased Selfridges in 2021 alongside the now defunct Signa Group, added: “Maybe 10 years from now [the price] won’t be too high, but if you ask today, then of course it’s too high.”

Since Central’s takeover of Selfridges, the company has faced a myriad of difficulties in the form of unreliable business partners and lacklustre sales. The company, which is also the majority owner of the Netherlands’ De BijenKorf and Ireland-based Brown Thomas, took full control over Selfridges towards the end of 2023 after Signa fell into financial troubles, ultimately leading to the insolvency of a number of its subsidiaries.

According to Chirathivat, there had been “no issue” between Central and Signa in their long-term partnership, initially struck up upon Signa’s sale of a majority stake in Germany’s KaDeWe to Central in 2015.

While such trouble seemed to be solved upon the formation of a new partnership with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which acquired a 40 percent stake in Selfridges in October 2024, the retailer has continued to find itself in a precarious financial position. For the year to 3 February 2024, the department store reported doubling pre-tax losses amounting to 340 million pounds. This was despite an uptick in revenue on the year prior’s 840.7 million pounds to 1.6 billion pounds.

Despite the turbulence, Chirathivat stood by his commitment to the retail landscape, noting that things at the Selfridges Group were now “on track” and “going very well”. This is under the guidance of newly appointed CEO, André Maeder, who has been tasked with “rebuilding the [Selfridges flagship] store” and “improving every area” of the business. Chirathivat added that “the grand plan for Selfridges” was to become “the best store in the world”, claiming that it was likely in the current “top five”.