Arcadia to shutter 23 stores in CVA plan

Sir Philip Green’s fashion group will also slash rents at 194 other shops under the restructuring plan.

Its remaining 349 stores in the UK and Ireland, which trade under the Topshop, Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Miss Selfridge, Wallis and Evans fascias, will continue to trade as normal.

Arcadia could also close all 11 of its Topshop and Topman stores in the US as it focuses on wholesale and online revenues.

The retailer said it was “committed to keeping redundancy levels to a minimum” and that “every effort” would be made to redeploy impacted workers.

Greens’ wife and Arcadia shareholder Lady Green will inject £50m into the group, in addition to the £50m provided in March, to support Arcadia’s turnaround plans.

Green has also agreed to hand all impacted landlords 20% of the group’s value if it were to be sold in the future.

Arcadia said that it was “progressing discussions” with the trustees of its two largest pension schemes, the Pensions Regulator and the Pension Protection Fund.

The Topshop owner had previously been paying £50m per year into the schemes, but will slash that to £25m as part of the CVA proposal.  Lady Green will also pay £100m into the schemes over the next three years.

Staff were told of the restructuring plans at 5pm today.

Three-quarters of creditors will need to vote in favour of the proposals on June 5 for the CVA to proceed.

Arcadia said the plans would return the group to a “stable financial platform” after what it called a “sustained period of declining trading performance”.

Chief executive Ian Grabiner said: “Against a backdrop of challenging retail headwinds, changing consumer habits and ever-increasing online competition, we have seriously considered all possible strategic options to return the Group to a stable financial platform.

“Following constructive discussions with all key stakeholders, we believe that a CVA is the best course of action to reduce our fixed cost base and ensure we can continue meeting our commitments to pension trustees, staff, creditors and our extensive supply chain for the long term, while continuing to serve customers through our portfolio of quality fashion brands.

He added: “We have in place a well-developed turnaround plan for the group, which includes driving cost efficiencies and managing the refreshed retail store estate and investing in the continued development of our multi-channel proposition and logistics. The plan will be executed by the group’s recently strengthened senior management team, made up of top talent from across the retail industry who are committed to returning the group to growth.

“This has been a tough but necessary decision for the business. We will ensure all potentially affected colleagues are kept fully informed as we seek approval from our creditors on today’s CVA proposals.”