Retail consortium Arcadia, which includes Topshop and Burton, has gone into administration. Making it the biggest UK corporate failure of the current pandemic.
The fashion group has around 450 leased sites in the UK and 22 overseas. Its demise puts 13,000 employee jobs at risk. Just over 9,000 of these employees were on furlough when Arcadia went into administration.
Matt Smith and Dan Butters from Deloitte were appointed administrators to the group on 30 November. In a statement Deloitte said all stores will continue to trade and that it would be assessing all the options. Any purchases made on Black Friday will be honoured, it said.
Arcadia’s management will retain day-to-day control of the company under what is a light-touch trading administration. This is the same set-up as at Debenhams.
Joint administrator Matt Smith said: “We will be rapidly seeking expressions of interest and expect to identify one or more buyers to ensure the future success of the business.”
