The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Financial decision · 2019–2020
Links of London had 28 stores and a royal warrant — then its parent lied about €1 billion
Folli Follie overstated revenue by €1 billion; Links of London, its UK subsidiary, went into administration and closed every store, losing 500 jobs.
Links of London · Folli Follie · 2019-03
What happened
Links of London was a British jewelry brand founded in 1990, known for its silver charm bracelets and a Royal Warrant from the Prince of Wales. At its peak, it operated approximately 28 stores across the UK, US, and Canada. In 2006, the brand was acquired by Folli Follie Group, a Greek luxury fashion company, for £24.7 million.
In 2018, a forensic investigation by Qatalyst Partners revealed that Folli Follie had been fraudulently overstating its revenue by approximately €1 billion. The Greek company's shares collapsed, and its financial misconduct triggered a cascade of failures across its subsidiaries. Links of London was directly caught in the fallout.
In March 2019, Links of London went into administration. All 16 UK stores and all US and Canadian locations were closed. Approximately 500 employees lost their jobs. The brand that had once held a Royal Warrant and was a staple of British jewelry retail was dismantled entirely. By June 2020, the brand had ceased to exist as a retail operation.
Why it happened
- Links of London was a healthy brand that was destroyed by its parent company's fraud — the subsidiary was not failing, but it was owned by a failing group
- The Folli Follie overstatement of €1 billion meant the parent company had no cash to support its subsidiaries when the fraud was exposed
- A jewelry brand with a Royal Warrant and 28 stores can be liquidated entirely in months when the financial fraud at the top drains confidence, credit, and cash simultaneously
- Links of London had no independent financing or ownership structure — it was structurally dependent on a parent that turned out to be worth a fraction of what it claimed
The lesson
A subsidiary's health is meaningless if the parent is a fraud. Links of London did not fail on its own merits, but the parent's collapse made its credit and supply chain simultaneously toxic.
Aftermath
All stores closed by June 2020. The brand name was eventually acquired by new owners in 2021 and relaunched as an online-only retailer, but the physical retail chain and the Royal Warrant were gone permanently.
Sources
- Links of London — Wikipedia
- Folli Follie — Wikipedia
- Sky News — Links of London jewellery chain collapse leaves 350 jobs at risk
spotted an error? The club wants to know.
More like this
Jura Watches' owner collapsed with £28.5M turnover — reborn by Watchfinder founders
Signet's UK jewellery stores kept closing — it still turned down a buyer
Perrie Edwards' fashion brand Disora was dissolved after £265,000 in losses
Somewhere, someone solved the problem this company failed at. 2nd Opinion →
Comments · 0
Sign in to join the comments.