Internaçionale Limited, the company which operated value womens fashion stores Internaçionale and homewares retailer Au Naturale, has gone into administration.

The company has appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers as administrators. Prior to the administration, the company sold the Internaçionale brand and stores, along with 31 of the 91 Au Naturale stores, to an unnamed investor, securing 1,350 jobs.

Last Friday, a meeting of the company’s retention of title creditors, which are mainly stock suppliers, approved a scheme of arrangement, which would see them receive 25p in the£1 as a compromise of certain rights over the stock. Implementation of this scheme is subject to final sanction by the Court of Session.

PricewaterhouseCoopers joint administrator and partner Graham Martin said: “Internaçionale Limited has suffered serious financial distress as a result of the general retail downturn together with major operational difficulties in the supply of stock from its warehouses to the retail outlets.

“We will continue to trade the remaining 59 Au Naturale stores while we fully assess the options available. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the suppliers of the company for their support for the scheme of arrangement which will allow us to do this.”

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