Dunelm founder Bill Adderley sells majority of his stake in Marks & Spencer
Bill Adderley, the billionaire founder of homeware retailer Dunelm, has sold most of his shares in Marks & Spencer three years after building up a stake to become the firm’s largest private shareholder.
Adderley has sold two thirds of his three per cent stake in M&S, telling the Sunday Times that there were “a couple of even bigger opportunities out there.”
“I still think it’s a fantastic company. I think it will motor on, but the reason I got out was I felt there were a couple of even bigger opportunities,” he told the paper.
Adderley built up a stake in M&S between 2012 and 2013. The chain’s shares were worth 476p in October 2013 when his shareholding was disclosed and have since risen to 583p at Friday’s closed.
His exit comes after M&S reported its first annual profit rise in four years last month.