A NUMBER of businesses are keen to buy the overseas operations of Courts, including the stores in the Caribbean. However, Charles Elphick, head of corporate communications with Courts Plc, confirmed that accounting firm KPMG, which was appointed administrator of Courts Plc in November following a prolonged poor trading performance by Courts UK Ltd, said that it had “received expressions of interest from a number of parties who want to acquire Courts Plc’s international businesses as a whole or separately”. Courts Plc is the majority shareholder in Courts Barbados as well as Courts in Jamaica, Belize, Dominica, Trinidad and Tobago, St Kitts-Nevis, Antigua, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, and Guyana, totalling 95 stores and a central warehouse in Miami. Their total turnover is about $600 million. KPMG has not entered into detailed discussions with prospective buyers. Its strategic review is not yet complete. The top official of Courts Plc, who spoke from Miami where top Courts officials are attending a major marketing meeting, stressed that Courts’ overseas businesses were “profitable and valuable assets”, which the administrator and the Plc management want to continue to perform in order to enhance their value. Reprinted from nationnews.com