Topshop and Dorothy Perkins owner Arcadia goes into administration – 13,000 jobs at risk

Ali KhanNov 30, 2020Business

Administrator Deloitte made the grim announcement days after reports suggested the group was on the brink of appointing administrators. The tycoon’s Arcadia Group owns Topshop, Topman, Dorothy Perkins, Wallis, Miss Selfridge, Evans, Burton and Outfit brands. No redundancies are being announced immediately as a result of the appointment of administrators and stores will continue to trade.

Sir Philip’s fashion empire runs 444 shops in the UK and 22 overseas.

Arcadia said 9,294 employees are currently on furlough.

The group’s CEO blamed the COVID-19 crisis for its demise.

Ian Grabiner said Arcadia had been “severely impacted” by the coronavirus crisis.

He 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 COVID-19 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.”

The announcement came hours after Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group said an offer for a £50 million lifeline for Arcadia was rejected.

In a statement, Matt Smith, joint administrator at Deloitte, said the company would work with Arcadia’s management and stakeholders “to assess all options available for the future of the group’s businesses”.

He said it was Deloitte’s intention to “continue to trade all of the brands, and we look forward to welcoming customers back into stores when many of them are allowed to reopen.”

He added: “We will be rapidly seeking expressions of interest and expect to identify one or more buyers to ensure the future success of the businesses.

“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.”

This is a breaking news story… More to follow…

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