Administrator Deloitte has been appointed to the subsidiaries Stylo Barratts, Stylo Barratts Properties, Priceless Shoes Properties, Barratts Shoes Properties and Comfort Shoes. Parent Stylo Plc is not in administration. The administrator is seeking agreement from creditors to place the companies into a Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA) and the stores remain open and continue to trade.
Stylo operates 400 high street shoe stores in the UK under the Barratts and Priceless brands, employing 5,450 staff. Its headquarters are in Bradford, Yorkshire.
Deloitte partner and joint administrator Daniel Butters said:
"Stylo has faced a downturn in trading as a result of the current difficult economic and market conditions. We have been appointed as administrators to Barratts and Priceless while we contact all creditors with a proposal to rescue the companies via a series of CVAs.
"Under the CVAs, we will be asking creditors and landlords to contractually vary their terms of trade in order to give Barratts and Priceless the necessary breathing space to allow them to deliver value for all stakeholders in the future.
"We are seeking to enable the rescue of Barratts and Priceless, while giving creditors and landlords certainty over their own positions. Ultimately, we are giving creditors and landlords a chance to vote on the future of the companies.
"If creditors accept the proposals, the administration would cease, after a 28 day cooling off period and the companies would continue to trade under the CVAs, which would remain in place for two years. The administrators would become supervisors to ensure that the companies meet their obligations to creditors.
"In the meantime, the stores will continue to trade as normal."
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