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ASOS, the London-listed online fashion retailer, is exploring a sale of the TopShop brand it bought from the wreckage of Sir Philip Green’s collapsed retail empire less than three years ago.

Sky News has learnt that ASOS, which will publish its delayed full-year results next week, is at the early stages of a process that could see it offload what was once one of the best-known names on the high street.

City sources said this weekend that a sale was not certain to proceed, and it was unclear how much ASOS might raise from selling the brand.

It was unclear whether any talks are already taking place with potential buyers.

A potential disposal is said to be one of the options being examined by Jose Antonio Ramos Calamonte, who took over as chief executive last year.

He unveiled a 12-month turnaround plan last October focused on sharpening it operating performance and reducing costs, but has been caught in the vice-like grip of soaring inflation and declining consumer spending power.

Mr Calamonte has reduced stock by 30%, exceeding a key target, and refinanced part of its borrowings.

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In May, ASOS announced it had secured £275m of new debt facilities from Bantry Bay Capital, a specialist lender which also has exposure to UK retailers including Superdry.

This week, it said it would delay its annual results and strategy update until next Wednesday to enable PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), its auditor, to “complete its planned testing”.

The company, which has seen its shares plunge by 40% over the last year, bought TopShop, TopMan, Miss Selfridge and HIIT brands in February 2021 after a fiercely fought auction run by the administrators to Arcadia Group.

The deal valued the assets at £265m, although inventory and forward purchase orders took the overall price to £330m.

The disclosure that it may now be for sale again is likely to reawaken interest from some of the losing bidders in that process.

These could include ABG, the owner of Ted Baker and a stake in David Beckham’s consumer brands business, and JD Sports Fashion.

Next would also be expected to examine an offer, having snapped up high street brands such as FatFace and a big stake in Reiss.

The most obvious bidder, however, would be Frasers Group, the high street conglomerate which owns retail names ranging from Sports Direct and Jack Wills to Evans Cycles and Gieves & Hawkes.

On Friday, Sky News revealed that Frasers, founded by the billionaire Mike Ashley, was among the suitors circling WiggleCRC, owner of the online cycling brands Wiggle and Chain Reaction Cycles, which has fallen into administration.

TopShop was the jewel in the crown of Sir Philip’s empire for years, providing the platform for him to become feted as ‘the king of the high street’.

In 2012, he sold a 25% stake in his TopShop and TopMan subsidiaries to Leonard Green & Partners, an American private equity firm, in a deal that valued them at £2bn.

Shares in ASOS closed on Friday at 385.6p, giving it a market value of £467m.

An ASOS spokesman said: “ASOS as a policy does not comment on rumour or speculation.”

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The free £2,000 that 800,000 parents aren’t claiming | Sign up to Money newsletter

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The free £2,000 that 800,000 parents aren't claiming | Sign up to Money newsletter

Sky News has launched a free Money newsletter – bringing the kind of content you enjoy in the Money blog directly to your inbox.

Each Friday, subscribers get exclusive money-saving tips and features from the team behind the award-winning Money blog, which is read by millions of Britons every month.

Sign up today, and this week you’ll find the following in the newsletter:

  • The free £2,000 that 800,000 parents aren’t claiming
  • Our Verdict: Our blind tasters put spreadable butter to the test – and a cheaper supermarket version comes joint top with a big name
  • Money Problem: What can you do if your insurance company writes your car off after a garage says it will cost less than it’s worth to fix?

So, join our growing Money community – and thanks to the thousands of you who already have.

What to expect each week

The newsletter is your essential personal finance companion, with digestible information to help you make smarter decisions on your savings, mortgages, holiday money and much more.

As a subscriber, you get additional exclusive content that goes beyond the blog.

At a time when the global economy faces so much uncertainty, we have analysis from our trusted economics teams on the big stories that affect the cash in your pocket.

You also get first looks at popular features such as Money Problem, Cheap Eats, What It’s Really Like To Be A and our weekend Long Read.

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Jaguar Land Rover staff home for another day as company reels from cyber attack

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Jaguar Land Rover staff home for another day as company reels from cyber attack

Staff of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) have been told to stay home for a further day, Sky News understands, as the carmaker struggles to recover from a cyber attack.

Employees of the British company have now been told to remain off work until Wednesday. Previously, workers were directed not to return until Tuesday.

A decision on whether to bring staff back or not is being taken day by day, Sky News understands.

Money blog: One thing you should never have on your CV

JLR shut down its systems when it noticed the cyber attack on Tuesday last week, saying it had been “severely disrupted”.

Its retail activities were also impacted, but there was no evidence at the time that “any customer data has been stolen”, though JLR is reported to have flagged the risk of a data breach to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Thousands of production staff at the UK’s largest car manufacturing sites in Halewood, Merseyside, and Solihull and Wolverhampton in the West Midlands are still being paid.

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Jaguar Land Rover is the UK’s latest major company to face a cyber incident, after Marks & Spencer had its operations disrupted for months.

After an attack over Easter, the high street chain only resumed click and collect services in August.

Attacks on the Co-op and Harrods were detected more swiftly, and had less of an impact.

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Jaguar Land Rover paused shipments to the US in April in response to President Trump’s new tariffs. A US-UK deal was subsequently agreed.

Reporting from The Sunday Times said JLR operations could be disrupted for “most of September” or worse.

On Wednesday, a group of English-speaking hackers claimed responsibility for the JLR attack via a Telegram platform called Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters, an amalgamation of the names of hacking groups Scattered Spider, Lapsus$ and ShinyHunters.

Scattered Spider, a loose group of relatively young hackers, were behind the Co-Op, Harrods and M&S attacks.

JLR suppliers Evtec, WHS Plastics, SurTec and OPmobility have had to temporarily lay off staff, impacting roughly 6,000 workers.

A spokesperson for JLR said on Monday: “We continue to work around the clock to restart our global applications in a controlled and safe manner.

“We are working with third-party cybersecurity specialists and alongside law enforcement.

“We are very sorry for the disruption this incident has caused. Our retail partners remain open and we will continue to provide further updates.”

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US tech and finance giants to join Trump on second UK state visit

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US tech and finance giants to join Trump on second UK state visit

The boss of Nvidia, the chipmaker which has become the world’s most valuable public company, is among the corporate chiefs lining up to accompany President Donald Trump on next week’s state visit to the UK.

Sky News has learnt that Jensen Huang, the Nvidia chief executive who has presided over the stratospheric rise in its valuation to more than $4trn, is expected to attend a state banquet at Windsor Castle hosted by King Charles III during the trip.

Sources said on Monday that Sam Altman, the boss of OpenAI; Larry Fink, chairman and chief executive of asset management behemoth BlackRock; and Stephen Schwarzman, the boss of private equity giant Blackstone, were also expected to be among the attendees.

Money blog: One thing you should never have on your CV

Tim Cook, the Apple chief executive, has also been invited and may attend the state banquet, the sources added, while Jamie Dimon, the JP Morgan chief, is understood to be unable to make the trip to Britain because of existing diary commitments.

The attendance of figures such as Mr Huang and, potentially, Mr Altman, will fuel expectations that a wave of corporate deals and investments in the UK will be unveiled during President Trump’s unprecedented second state visit.

Closer collaboration between the two countries’ nuclear power industries is expected to be one of the main focal points of trade-related discussions during the three-day trip, as well as artificial intelligence and the broader technology industry.

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President Trump’s visit will, however, come amid tensions over his tariff regime, with continuing uncertainty about the impact on British manufacturing sectors, including steel.

There are also continuing tensions between the UK government and major drugmakers over pricing, with the US administration pressuring pharmaceutical companies to slash the price of prescription medicines in the US.

An Nvidia spokesperson said, “We don’t comment on our executives’ travel schedules.”

BlackRock, Blackstone, Apple and JP Morgan declined to comment, while OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment.

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