Aurora has now well and truly left the ghost of Baugur behind it.

It feels like a lifetime ago that the collapse of Baugur was dominating the retail agenda. In fact, it was only February last year when the Icelandic retail empire went down, prompting many of us to fear the worst for the diverse assortment of brands it had pulled together during its relentless onslaught on the UK retail market.

Baugur’s onslaught on retail wasn’t the sector’s finest hour, with perfectly good businesses effectively becoming pawns in a high-stakes game of retail roulette. It was all bound to end in tears, but one thing you can say for Baugur is that they didn’t pick their businesses badly, and when they did buy them, the management teams they put in place were pretty good.

So while there were casualties among the smaller companies, such as MK One and Whittard, the majority of the businesses in the Baugur stable, such as Iceland, House of Fraser, Aurum and Hamleys have prospered in the year-and-a-bit since it’s downfall.

One company which really went through the mill after the Baugur collapse was what was then known as Mosaic, the fashion conglomerate which owned Oasis, Karen Millen, Whistles and Coast among other brands. Leveraged to the hilt after a crazy flurry of acquisitons, the odds weren’t good on it surviving and it was a frantic time for chairman Derek Lovelock and chief executive Mike Shearwood as they dashed to Iceland to negotiate with the bankers.

Not all the brands made it through, with Principles collapsing (although surviving as a brand in Debenhams), while Whistles was sold. But Mosaic, now renamed Aurora, is back in business as the £23m operating profit announced this morning shows.

I’m not surprised, because the company’s suite of brands is very strong and Derek’s encyclopaedic understanding of product works well with Mike’s operationally focussed set of skills. Oasis hasn’t had the best of years but sounds like it’s returning to form, while the more upmarket, occasion-focussed brands have done well through the recession.

There’s still more to do but the business is on an even footing and that has to be good news given the number of jobs saved. The interesting question will be what happens next - the company still remains partly Icelandic-owned and there’s no rush to change things, but a year or two down the line, maybe an exit through IPO or private equity sale might be on the cards.