Fashion chain Select’s owner is seeking a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) to reduce its store estate in a bid to avoid “closing in its entirety”.
The beleaguered fashion firm’s parent company Genus UK has drafted in advisory company Quantuma as it seeks rent reductions on its 183-strong store estate.
The retailer’s owner’s said it has no plans to close any of its stores, but its proposal does include allowing landlords to “take back loss-making sites”.
Quantuma partner Andrew Andronikou said that Select, whose owner Genus UK made a loss of £1.5m in the year to June 2016, has struggled to perform due to the “depressed retail market and escalating rent and rate charges”.
“The loss of anchor tenants on high streets and in smaller shopping centres has had a downward spiralling effect on stores such as Select, culminating in a reduction of footfall and therefore custom,” Andronikou added.
“The position for this business, and many businesses of the same model, is no longer tenable and has escalated to the present situation where a CVA is considered to be the only option, other than closing it in its entirety.”
Select is the latest fashion retailer to be hit by dwindling high street trade following New Look winning 98% for its CVA earlier this month, resulting in 60 store closures.
Select, which employs approximately 2,000 staff, has not determined the exact number of stores it aims to offload and has said that reducing its rent bill is the primary aim of its CVA.
Andronikou said he is “confident” that creditors will back the fashion retailer’s CVA proposal, which will be voted for on April 13, to avoid “another brand disappearing from our high streets”.
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