Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia group has fallen into administration leaving the future of its 13,000 employees hanging in the balance. The group was once the dominant force in fashion retailing in the UK.
Arcadia has about 450 directly leased stores in the UK and 22 overseas, as well as dozens more concessions in department stores and other outlets including Tesco. Its entry into administration is the biggest British corporate failure of the pandemic, and the latest blow to an already battered UK high street. Arcadia has closed more than 100 stores and cut thousands of jobs since its parent company, Taveta, slumped to a £177.3m loss in the year to 1 September 2018 (Taveta’s last published set of results) with sales over that period slipping nearly 5% to £1.8bn. All of the company’s UK stores will continue to trade under the government’s Covid-19 guidelines while a buyer is sought.
Administrators from Deloitte said they were “rapidly seeking expressions of interest” in the group and “expect to identify one or more buyers” for its high street brands.
Arcadia owns eight retail fascias – Topshop, Topman, Burton, Evans, Outfit, Walls, Miss Selfridge and Dorothy Perkins – but has faltered in recent years against other High Street competitors such as Primark, H&M, Inditex and online players such as ASOS and BooHoo have also taken part of its market share.
The collapse not only brings to an end Green’s presence on the High Street but seems to have rung the deathknell for JD Sports’ potential rescue of ailing department store Debenhams, where Arcadia is a big supplier. The sports retailer looks likely to pull out of talks, raising the prospect of thousands more job losses at the department store group if an alternative rescue plan cannot be secured.
