Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Bodyworks owner Limited Brands has switched, temporarily, names. The company will now be tagged L Brands Inc while the company undergoes its final transition from selling Limited Stores, LLC, the retail chain, to Sun Capital Partners, a venture capital operator.
Sun bought a 75% controlling stake in the women’s clothing and personal care business back in 2007 (though Limited Brands had to take a $42m loss on the deal at the time), increasingly focusing on e-commerce rather than bricks and mortar sales.
A new name for the operation will likely be announced later in the year but for the moment Limited Brands – or rather L Brands Inc - still retains its LTD stock ticker. Victoria’s Secret launched gold fragrance for the holiday period – sales were flat in this period, not helped also by Hurricane Sandy; same store sales climbed seven percent in 2012.