A petition to wind up loss-making Store Twenty One has been dismissed from the Royal Courts of Justice today.

No further details are available as both HMRC, which presented the petition, and Store Twenty One declined to comment.

The hearing took place at 10.30am this morning. The reason for the winding up petition is unclear.

The clothing retailer, which is owned by Indian manufacturing giant Alok Group, has been loss-making for the past eight years and last year sought rent reductions from landlords, warning that without them liquidation beckoned.

Debt collectors were understood to have been called by at least two landlords because of concerns about unpaid rent, it was reported in February last year.

Last year the retailer made a £17.9m pre-tax loss as sales dropped 6.2% to £93.2m.

Store Twenty One was unavailable for comment.

Topics