PwC administrators make 91 redundancies at Internacionale
Administrators announce eight store closures in the 89-strong store portfolio
Administrators announce eight store closures in the 89-strong store portfolio
PWC ADMINISTRATORS will make nearly 100 staff redundant at women’s fashion retailer Internacionale UK ltd.
Bruce Cartwright, Lyn Vardy and Toby Underwood, all from PwC, were appointed joint administrators on 28 February.
At the time of the collapse the company operated about 89 stores and employed more than 1,000 staff.
However, the administrators have announced they will close eight stores this week, which will result in about 91 staff redundancies.
The store closures are: Gateshead, Telford, Bangor in Northern Ireland, Denton, Bradford, Maidstone, Mansfield and Crawley.
“Since appointment, the administrators of Internacionale have been assessing the viability of the company store portfolio. As a result of this ongoing review, the administrators have taken the difficult decision to close eight stores this week, which means that 91 staff working at these stores will be made redundant in due course,” said Cartwright.
The retailer has struggled in the last few years. It was borne out of the administration of its predecessor, Internacionale Retail limited, which entered administration on 12 July 2013. Prior to the administration of Internacionale Retail, the business employed about 1,500 staff.
EY administrators, Thomas Jack and Samuel Woodward, sold Internacionale Retail to the original shareholders via a pre-pack administration. At the time of the pre-pack the administrators said that all 114 stores and 1,550 staff were saved.
Earlier this year, the owners engaged advisers to produce a turnaround and contingency plan which was intended to secure financial support for the business until late March. As part of that cost-cutting and reorganisation, 90 redundancies were made, mostly in the business’ head office.
When the company collapsed earlier this year the administrators said that poor trading, increasing credit pressure, particularly from rating agencies, and landlords led the shareholders to decide that they could no longer support the business. A statement said they had taken the decision to “wind down” the business through administration.
When appointed the administrators said that they welcomed any offers for the store portfolio and intended the trade the business in order to sell as much of the retail stock as possible.