The owner of the Miss Selfridge womenswear and Adam’s childrenswear chain is likely to signal that its SearsCard store card business is up for sale.
Sir Bob Reid, the chairman, will use today’s interim results to outline a shift in company strategy following the demerger of Selfridges, the Oxford Street store, earlier this year.The restructuring is aimed at rebuilding investor confidence in the retailer. Shares in Sears have fallen to a near all-time low as concerns over strategy and current trading triggered a wave of selling.The key part of the new strategy will be the sale of a large chunk of the company’s property portfolio, worth around pounds 185m. Sears owns the freeholds of most of its stores and has a stake in several retail major city developments.Sears has always declined to give a detailed breakdown of its properties, but analysts estimate that around half the portfolio is in prime sites in the high street, with the rest in out-of-town developments.Last yea, Sears Properties posted a trading profit of pounds 11.1m, with development profits of pounds 10.4m and rental income of pounds 4m. In a recent note on Sears, broker Dresdner Kleinwort Benson said a sale of the portfolio could fetch pounds 150m.Possible buyers will include British Land, the developer that has been steadily building a stake in Selfridges with a view to unlocking the value of the Oxford Street store site.The company could also look at selling its card business, which provides loyalty card services to group stores and external clients. Three other sides – Maidenhead, High Wycombe and Fairham – are equal on points with Richmond and striving for senior status for the first time.

Maidenhead, with Mike Williamson – the Welsh player-coach in the recent Commonwealth Games – bolstering up their defence, won 3-2 at Tunbridge Wells, thanks to two goals from Shoaib Raja and a third from Mike Easton.
A rebound off the goalkeeper five minutes from the end gave Andy Burroughs the chance to snatch High Wycombe’s winner in their 1-0 victory against Winchester although, with the two Tims, Prior and Townley, looking dangerous up front, the game always seemed likely to swing Wycombe’s way. The club fears that the Old Trafford pitch will not be able to take two games on the day. The competition will be crammed into a tighter timetable, with Wigan meeting Hull in the elimination final tonight and the winners playing Leeds on Sunday.. WILL COOPER scored a fine hat-trick for his team Richmond, the former National League side, as they climbed to the top of the South Premier League with a 4-1 win over Wokingham Wai-Lun Choi scored Richmond’s fourth. If they are as strongly against the extra work load as they appear to be, the association will try to block the change.Manchester United have refused to allow the Academy Grand Final to be played as a curtain raiser to the Super League Grand Final on 24 October as planned. Administrators at club and Super League level are adamant that more matches, including some in midweek, are necessary if the books are to be balanced next year, but players and coaches seem to be overwhelmingly against the idea.Abi Ekoku, the recently retired Bradford centre and acting chairman of the RLPA, said that he hoped to have a clear picture of players’ views before the end of the season.

Halifax have also made a move for two current Wigan players, the Great Britain prop Terry O’Connor and the young utility back, Darryl Cardiss.The Rugby League Players’ Association is polling its members for their opinion on the proposal for extending the Super League season to 30 games next year. Long has been told that he has no case to answer over a suspected high tackle during the victory over Halifax last Friday.Halifax, who exceeded all expectations by finishing third in Super League before being knocked out by Saints, have started their team strengthening for next season by recruiting the Salford back-row forward Craig Randall and the Swinton centre, Andy Craig.Craig, previously with Wigan, has been released by Swinton because of financial pressures. But Harris knows that he is far from certain of a starting spot in the team against the Kiwis.
“I’d like to play stand-off, because I think I could do a really good job there,” he said. “But wherever Andy Goodway picks me – full-back, stand-off or on the bench – I’ll be happy to be there.”Harris, part of the Leeds side beaten at Wigan on Sunday, will be less happy if two of his most influential team-mates are not fit for the side’s last chance in the final eliminator against St Helens this Sunday. Adrian Morley and Marc Glanville are struggling, with shoulder and knee injuries respectively, although Glanville’s chances of been fit are rated the better.”Adrian is probably the best forward in Britain at the moment, so it is vitally important to us to have him and Marc fit,” Harris said.A player of equal importance to St Helens, their scrum-half Sean Long, was cleared to play in the match yesterday. “You have to be long and straight,” said this year’s PGA champion.It is no coincidence that Monty and Els have done well on the West Course and at the US Open, where the South African is a two-time winner. If he is to add that title to his 1997 Masters crown, Woods needs to keep learning this week..