Fashion retailer Internaçionale has filed an intention to appoint an administrator. Specialist retailer ModelZone is also poised to do the same as rent day hits under-pressure retailers.

Internaçionale, which has 150 stores, is understood to have lined up Ernst & Young as administrator. ModelZone, which has 50 shops, has lined up Deloitte.

Part of Internaçionale may be preserved through a pre-pack deal, industry sources said, but as many as 40 stores could shut.

The retailer was previously saved through a sale in 2008 but was revived, although stores trading under sister brand Au Naturale were ditched.

ModelZone, backed by Lloyds Development Capital, was said by sources to have expanded too quickly. It had 25 shops at the time of the buyout in 2009 and has grown to 50 since.

ModelZone founder and current chief executive of Hawkins Bazaar David Mordecai said: “It is owned by private equity and I don’t think they understood the niche market. Before I left a year ago, ModelZone was doing well and continuing to show like-for-like growth. Since then the owners thought they could go mass market but it meant they didn’t offer model enthusiasts the product they wanted.”

Today, furniture retailer Dwell was formally placed into administration. Its stores ceased trading last week.

No comment was available from ModelZone. Internaçionale declined to comment.

 

 

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