Internaçionale stores attract lukewarm interest

It is understood that administrator PwC has received just a handful of approaches for parts of the business after the retailer fell into administration last week.

One boss of a retailer told Retail Week that the stores “are not in great locations”.

PwC is continuing to trade Internaçionale’s store to offload its high levels of stock. PwC is winding down Internacionale’s 89 stores but it is understood shops could be open for another 8-12 weeks.

The collapse has put 1,000 jobs at risk.

Redundancies have already been made at head office after the headcount was cut by 90 earlier this year.

It is the second time the business has fallen into administration within the space of eight months. In June last year the retailer was bought out of administration in a pre-pack deal. The business’ owners had produced a turnaround plan earlier this year and its viability was to be reassessed in March.

Poor trading and increasing creditor pressure, particularly from rating authorities and landlords, led the shareholders to decide to wind down the business through administration.