Cassar eyes deals after leaving House of Fraser

House of Fraser chief finance officer Stefan Cassar will scout for new retail investments next year after stepping down from the department store group this week.

Cassar told Drapers that he would go travelling for five months before looking for new investments, which were likely to include fashion businesses.

"I'll look for opportunities and put another consortium together," he said. "It could be something big if the opportunity presents itself or I could also look at medium-sized retailers or fashion brands."

Cassar was part of the consortium that bought House of Fraser for £351 million in November last year, and will remain a non-executive director and investor at House of Fraser.

He said: "My plan was always to come on board with House of Fraser mainly as an investor and stay for the first year. It has been really enjoyable and House of Fraser is well positioned financially and operationally to push forward."

Cassar has been replaced by Mark Gifford, previously direc-tor of financial services at the retailer. Gifford has also worked for travel agent First Choice Retail as finance director. Separately, House of Fraser has promoted commercial director Colin Porter to the board.

The retailer reported sales of £246.7 million and pre-tax profit of £7.9m for the three months to January 27.