Voice of London

The British retail company, Arcadia, was put in bankruptcy protection on Monday which placed 13,000 jobs at risk due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to CNN Business, this move ought to protect the company from creditors while a buyer is soughted for all the parts of the company.

Arcadia Group is a British multinational retailing company run by Philipp Green for 18 years. It owns high street clothing retailers like Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Miss Selfridge and Topshop.

England is in a four-week lockdown that has forced the closure of all shops selling items viewed as non-essential. The lockdown expires on December 2 and shops will be allowed to reopen.

Ian Grabiner, Arcadia’s chief executive, said: “This is an incredibly sad day for all of our colleagues as well as our suppliers and our many other stakeholders. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic including the forced closure of our stores for prolonged periods has severely impacted on trading across all of our brands.”

CNBC analysyts say that COVID-19 is not the sole reason for the company’s bankrupty. Arcadia had been losing in the competition with cheaper retailers like H&M and Primark.

Moreover, the situation was worsened by Green’s poor financial administration and lavish spendings.

In a statement ruled by Deloitte, the company has entered administration. According to the statement, there are no redundancies to be announced on Monday and stores would continue to operate as usual.

Read more:

• Sir Philip Green’s Topshop empire faces collapse within days

Words: Chinara Sadikhova | Subbing: Dina Nazari