THE BRITISH GROUP ARCADIA, OWNER OF TOPSHOP, FILES THE BALANCE SHEET
LONDON (Reuters) – British ready-to-wear group Arcadia, which owns the Topshop brand and employs 13,000 people, has filed for bankruptcy, Deloitte announced on Monday evening.
Arcadia, which is owned by businessman Philip Green, becomes the biggest British group to fall victim to the coronavirus pandemic.
The announcement is “incredibly sad,” commented UK Enterprise Minister Alok Sharma, who pledged government support to those affected by this development. “I know the times are going to be particularly worrying for employees and their families, especially as Christmas approaches,” he added on Twitter.
Deloitte said Monday evening that he had been appointed to become director of Arcadia with the task of finding possible buyers for the group which owns, in addition to Topshop, the brands Topman, Dorothy Perkins, Wallis, Miss Selfridge, Evans , Burton and Outfit.
The group has 444 rental shops in the United Kingdom and 22 abroad which will continue their activity immediately. Furthermore, no job cuts have been mentioned at this stage of the bankruptcy procedure.
Philip Green, who bought Arcadia in 2002 for £ 850million, has not commented.
But Ian Grabiner, general manager of the ready-to-wear group, blamed Arcadia’s difficulties on the health crisis and the lockdowns put in place to try to contain the coronavirus epidemic. “The obstacles we encountered were far too severe,” he said.
The coronavirus may have dealt the final blow to the British group, but its situation had already been delicate for years due to insufficient investments facing competitors like Zara, H&M or Primark or online sales platforms such ASOS and Boohoo.
A restructuring agreement was reached last year with Arcadia’s creditors, with the closing of shops, but in the end it only brought a temporary respite.
Topshop is considered the most attractive brand in the group.
Mike Ashley’s Frasers group as well as Marks & Spencer, Next and Boohoo may be interested in certain Arcadia brands, as may financial investors.
(James Davey; French version Henri-Pierre André)
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