The Arcadia group led by Sir Philip Green is understood to be urgently seeking fresh funding after the second national lockdown in England put paid to its recovery plans.
The fashion group, which operates retailers including Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Burton, is understood to have approached a number of potential lenders to secure a £30m loan to tide the business over after this month’s lockdown hammered its Christmas trading ambitions.
According to Sky News, several conversations are ongoing and one source close to the situation said an agreement to secure fresh funding could be imminent.
The pensions regulator is also understood to be closely involved in the talks about the new financing.
Fresh doubt over the future of the group would be raised if a loan is not secured. The fashion conglomerate has 15,000 employees with 14,000 furloughed during the current lockdown. The group made 500 job cuts at its head office earlier this year as well as temporarily pausing payments into its pension scheme and pushing for rent cuts across several of its 550 sites.
Arcadia has also denied allegations in The Sunday Times that the group’s advisors Deloitte are drawing up plans which could see Green’s fashion empire placed into a trading administration.
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