Woolworths Holdings the South African owners of David Jones have had enough of the struggling department store and have officially appointed Goldman Sachs to offload the business.

ChannelNews understands that several interested parties have ran a ruler over the business which was acquired in 2014 for $2.1 billion and that there are at least two buyers eyeing off a potential deal.

The retailer recorded a 44.6% drop in adjusted operating profit to $31 million for the 26 weeks ended 26 December 2021, with turnover down 9.2% for the period.

Gross profit margin increased by 20bps to 35% due to the business ending various discounting programs.

Goldman’s Christian Johnston is advising on the sale of the 184-year-old retailer according to the Australian.

Woolworths chief executive Roy Bagattini is understood to have visited Australia and made a surprise visit to one of the chain’s departments stores around two weeks ago.

One of the interested parties was Solomon Lew via his Lew Private Group.

It’s understood two private equity firms are now in discussions with the Johannesburg-listed company to stage a purchase, with Flagstaff Partners said to be advising one of them.

A spokesman for David Jones declined to comment on “market speculation”, especially with the store’s annual results to be released on Wednesday.