DOLCIS, the footwear retailer, is set to change hands after its owner, the quoted fashion group Alexon, decided to offload the loss-making chain.

Alexon has hired Hawkpoint, the corporate-finance boutique, to oversee the sale of Dolcis, which operates from 67 stand-alone stores in Britain and almost 150 concessions.

An information memorandum relating to the sale has been circulated to a number of interested parties within the past fortnight. These are understood to include a number of private-equity firms.

A disposal will leave Alexon, which has a market value of £81m, with the Bay Trading young fashion chain and its Alexon Brands and menswear divisions. In total, the group operates from almost 1,600 stores in Britain and Europe.

Alexon has decided to sell Dolcis because of the intense competition in footwear retailing in the UK.

The company is also struggling more generally, having announced a 5.7% fall in group like-for-like sales in the 16 weeks to May 20.

Alexon refused to comment on the sale of Dolcis, which recorded an operating loss of £700,000 last year against a £3.6m profit the previous year.

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