The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Thousands of jobs at risk as Arcadia folds
Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia Group has gone bust, putting 13,000 jobs at risk. The high street giant, which includes the Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Burton brands, has hired administrators from Deloitte after the pandemic “severely impacted” sales across its brands.
The group, which runs 444 stores in the UK and 22 overseas , said 9 ,294 employees are currently on furlough.
No redundancies are being announced yet as a result of the appointment, and stores will continue to trade, the administrators said.
Ian Grab in er, chief executive of Arcadia, said: “This is an incredibly sad day for all of our colleagues as well as our suppliers and our many other stakeholders.
“The impact of the Covid19 pandemic, including the forced closure of our stores for prolonged periods, has severely impacted on trading across all of our brands.
“Throughout this immensely challenging time, our priority has been to protect jobs and preserve the financial stability of the group, in the hope that we could ride out the pandemic and come out fighting on the other side.
“Ultimately, however, in the face of the most difficult trading conditions we have ever experienced, the obstacles we encountered were far too severe.”
Matt Sm ith , jo int administrator at Deloitte, said: “We will now work w i th the ex is t ing management team and broader stakeholders to assess all options available for the future of the group’s businesses.
“It is our intention to continue to trade all of the brands, and we look for ward to welcoming customers back into stores when many of them are allowed to reopen.
“We will be rapidly seeking expressions of interest and expect to identify one or more buyers.
“As administrators we’d like to thank all of the group’ s employees, customers and business partners for their support, at what we appreciate is a difficult time.”
Earlier yesterday, Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group said an offer for a £50m lifeline for Arcadia was rejected.
Shops and concessions at risk in Courier Country include: Top shop in Dundee; Top shop in Dunfermline; Dorothy Perkins within Debenhams in Dundee; Dorothy Perkins in Arbroath; Dorothy Perkins/ Wallis within Debenhams in Perth; Dorothy Perkins/ Burton in Kirkcaldy; Dorothy Perkins/Burton in Dunfermline; Burton in Kirkcaldy; Miss Selfridge/ Wallis within Debenhams in Dundee; and Wallis within Debenhams in Dunfermline.