Footwear brand Clarks is demanding rent reductions of up to 30% from landlords, as it seeks to overcome a spell of poor trading.

The family-owned footwear brand becomes the latest in a long line of fashion retailers to have lobbied landlords for better rental terms amid tough high street trading conditions – including Primark and Ann Summers, as was revealed by Retail Week.

Clarks has offered to extend leases on some stores in return for rent cuts of up to 30%, according to The Sunday Times.

The retailer has struggled for relevance, seeing its pre-tax profits for the 52 weeks to February 3, 2018 fall to just £19.7m and its sales dip to £1.53bn.

Despite dwindling sales, Clarks is said to be too profitable to be a candidate for a company voluntary arrangement (CVA). 

Clarks appointed new chief executive Giorgio Presca in March, in the same month it was forced to close its last remaining UK manufacturing hub in Somerset with the loss of 35 jobs.

A number of other footwear retailers have also struggled in the face of increased competition from the likes of Primark and Asos – with Schuh recently drafting in restructuring expert KPMG and Office planning to close a number of loss-making stores over the next two years. 

A spokeswoman for Clarks said: “Since early 2017, when Clarks announced that it would be conducting a full review and modernisation of the company’s property portfolio, we have been constantly reviewing our store estate to ensure that all stores are the right size and located in the right places to enable us to provide the right offering for customers. As a key brand on many of the UK’s high streets, we are committed to retaining our presence and ensuring our stores continue to play a critical role in delivering a great experience for our customers.”

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