AlixPartners is having a busy 2025. Following news that it has been called in to advise Pepco on its options for Poundland, a news report this week said River Island has called its consultants in as well.

Sky News said privately-held River Island “is thought to have drafted in consultants from AlixPartners to focus on profit improvement”. Neither company has commented on the story.

The Lewis family-owned business is believed to be looking at ways to improve its profits as it braces for additional expenses, such as the upcoming increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions, and cost cuts are a key focus.

But the news report said a formal restructuring that could lead to store closures isn’t part of AlixPartners’ remit.

The retailer operates from more than 250 stores and its webstore  and has had mixed results in recent years. It accounts for 2023 filed in October showed the company swinging to pre-tax loss of £32.2 million, compared to a profit of £7.5 million a year earlier.

Turnover for the year fell by 15.1% to £701.5 million after adjusting for the impact of the previous year being a 53-week period compared to 52 weeks this time. 

The company emphasised at the time that it continued to operate with a lower-but-still-strong cash and balance sheet position, ending the year with £63.1 million of cash and net assets position of £198.3 million.

Its store footfall had fallen 10.6% during the latest year with visitor traffic down to 96 million visits, but it said it had been a year of “reset for the business”. Its product ranges were refocused and a new leadership structure was put in place with several key senior hires. 

River island also said at the time that during 2024, it started to see the benefits with customers “reacting positively” and an “improved business performance”.

But that improvement clearly wasn’t enough in the face of the onslaught of higher costs that the company will be facing in 2025. And there’s no denying that the retail environment, particularly for fashion, remains fragile in the UK.