At the time of investment, conventional thinking was that this was a ‘failed’ or ‘failing’ company. Whilst this may have been partially true of some of its legacy brands, the market completely overlooked the enormous potential of the City Chic brand.
At the time of the campaign Fleetwood was perceived as a mining services company with a number of stranded assets that had failed to deliver consistent profits. The board and management team had lost the faith of the market and, as is typical with fallen angels, the market had moved on with very little institutional interest in the company.