BooHoo has reasons to be cheerful – but Asos is on track for the top prize

BooHoo found Debenhams on the corporate sale rail. The deal doesn’t include its stock, stores or financial services business. The stock market liked that but it liked Asos’s potential purchase of TopShop even more, writes James Moore

The Debenhams brand has been bought by BooHoo, but the stores look doomed (Getty Images)

Knocked out of the battle for TopShop, there were no tears from BooHoo which started the week with a bang by announcing that it had secured a consolation prize in the form of Debenhams.

Well the brand, at any rate. There doesn’t look to be any future for the stores of either of the former retail kings.

The £55m BooHoo is paying is a bargain rail price. It casts Debenhams in the role of one of those end of line garments sold at 70 per cent off in one of the sales the lords of the virtual high street have running throughout the year.