Fashion stores to shut with loss of 80 jobs

THE COMPANY behind the fashion chains Vero Moda, Jack & Jones and Name It is closing 14 of its 36 stores in Ireland with the loss of 80 jobs.

Bestseller Retail (Ireland) Ltd, the holding company for the three fashion brands, was granted interim examinership by the High Court yesterday, and said it would continue to negotiate with its landlords to secure “more realistic” rents for its other outlets.

Vero Moda stores in Swords, Carlow, Waterford, Sligo, Blackpool, Douglas, the Charlestown shopping centre, Athlone Town Centre, Drogheda and Navan will all close. Jack Jones stores in Swords, Drogheda and Athlone and the Name It store in Charlestown (in Finglas) will also cease trading. The company’s other 22 stores will continue to trade.

Declan McDonald of accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has been appointed as the interim examiner. Examinership is a court-sanctioned corporate rescue process under which the examiner will attempt to restructure the company so that it can continue to trade. A full court hearing into the company’s difficulties will be held on March 9th.

The High Court heard yesterday that the company, which is wholly owned by its Danish parent company Bestseller, has built up liabilities that exceed its assets by €4.1 million, according to an accountants’ report compiled by Brendan Waters of Mazars. The estimated deficiency on liquidation is €26.1 million.

Bestseller Retail (Ireland) general manager Lucy O’Mahoney said the company was “confident” that it would emerge from examinership in a strong position.

“Our trading position has been further undermined by the steady increase in rents across all of our stores, which has seen property costs rise to unsustainable levels,” Ms O’Mahoney said.

The company, whose turnover was €24 million in its latest annual trading period, had recently indicated that it intended to open new stores in Ireland, where it employs 270 people.

Bestseller is Europe’s largest clothing retailers. Representatives recently flew in samples to the private airport in Weston, Co Dublin, to sell directly to buyers.