Debenhams liquidates Irish arm as it appoints administrators

Debenhams has appointed administrators from FRP Advisory and said it will be liquidating its Irish operations and permanently closing its 11 remaining department stores in Ireland.

The department store’s board of non-executive directors including former Home Retail chief executive John Walden have resigned from the business.

Debenhams has said its non-executive directors, which also included Stephen Sunnucks, Kevin Conroy and Dr. Beatrice Lafon ”were hired near the end of 2019 to help lead the growth of Debenhams following the completion of its restructuring” but that due to the business falling into administration their services were no longer needed.

Debenhams said it had entered administration to protect the group for the threat of legal action that “could have the effect of pushing the business into liquidation” given that its 142 UK stores remain closed due to the government’s guidance around social distancing.

The struggling department store chain filed notice to appoint administrators on Monday.

FRP Advisory joint administrators Geoff Rowley and Alastair Massey will adopt a “light touch” while the stores remain closed, working with the existing management team “to get the business into a position to re-open and trade as many stores as possible again when restrictions are lifted”.

Chief executive Stefaan Vansteenkiste said: “In these unprecedented circumstances, the appointment of the administrators will protect our business, our employees and other important stakeholders so that we are in a position to resume trading from our stores when government restrictions are lifted.

“We anticipate that our highly supportive owners and lenders will make additional funding available to fund the administration period. We are desperately sorry not to be able to keep the Irish business operating but are faced with no alternative option in the current environment. This decision has not been taken lightly and is no way a reflection on our Irish colleagues, whose professionalism and commitment to serving our customers has never been in question.”

It is the second time in a year the struggling business has appointed administrators, after the department store chain similarly collapsed into insolvency in April 2019.