The troubled camera retailer Jessops has changed hands after AO World acquired the business from the Dragons’ Den star Peter Jones.
The online electrical retailer said on Thursday it had completed the acquisition of Jessops.
AO bought the entire business, including its remaining seven stores around the UK, for an undisclosed sum. The deal will be funded from AO’s existing cash resources.
The acquisition is part of AO’s wider push to move beyond the categories its best known for, such as white goods, mobile phones and televisions, and into other types of electricals.
“[It] supports our strategy of expanding into adjacent categories, giving customers and members more reasons to shop with AO and increase our share of wallet,” AO World said.
“Jessops brings a trusted brand and specialist expertise in cameras and optical technology, while its re-commerce business, Camera Jungle, is highly complementary to our existing musicMagpie operations and further strengthens our circular economy credentials.”
Camera Jungle specialises in buying and selling secondhand digital cameras, lenses, and photography accessories. In December ۲۰۲۴, AO bought musicMagpie, which buys and sells used smartphones, tablets, consoles, video games, CDs and DVDs.
The company said it expected Jessops to grow over the next ۱۲ months as it leverages its own scale, web traffic and operational expertise.
Jessops posted a ۶.۵% rise in revenues to £۱۹.۸m last year, and made a pre-tax loss of £۱m, down from £۱.۱۷m in ۲۰۲۴, according to its most recently filed accounts at Companies House.
Founded in ۱۹۳۵ by Frank Jessop in Leicester, Jessops has endured a troubled history over the past two decades, and called in administrators three times. Jones’s PJ Investment Group bought the chain out of administration in ۲۰۱۳. Jessops was left with ۱۷ shops in ۲۰۲۱, when it was hit hard by Covid lockdown restrictions.
Jones, who made most of his £۴۰۰m fortune selling mobile phones, bought the Jessops brand in January ۲۰۱۳ to run it as a purely online retailer, and did not buy its ۱۸۷ stores. More than ۱,۳۷۰ stuff were made redundant.
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Jones later reopened dozens of stores but in ۲۰۱۹ the company plunged into administration a second time, and then again in ۲۰۲۱.
John Roberts, AO’s founder and chief executive, said: “I am delighted to welcome Jessops into the AO family and look forward to growing the existing business as well as integrating the category into the wider AO business.”
Roberts started AO in ۲۰۰۰ after making a £۱ bet in a pub with a friend that he could change the way white goods were bought over the internet.
The Guardian has contacted Jones for comment.
