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Fashion chains Peacocks and Jaeger have gone into management putting more than 4,700 jobs at risk after the latest shutdown hampered efforts to find a buyer.
It came after the owner of the EWM group, controlled by billionaire retailer Philip Day, passed a deadline to sell the two brands, which between them have around 500 stores.
The group said it had to make the “desperately difficult” decision despite having been in “constructive discussions” with potential buyers in recent weeks.
Jaeger has 76 stores
“The continued deterioration of the retail sector due to the impact of the pandemic and the second lockdown have made this process longer and more complex than we would have expected,” he said.
The talks were ongoing, but the deadline imposed by the Superior Court could not be delayed any further, the group added.
The announcement was the latest sign of the devastating impact the pandemic is having on businesses across the economy, and on the same day the numbers were released. one in seven companies they fear that they will not survive beyond the next three months.
In another hit to jobs elsewhere, energy giant E.On said it planned to cut nearly 700 positions over the next two years as it migrated its clients to a new platform.
The consulting firm FRP has been appointed to manage Peacocks and Jaeger.
London-based Jaeger has 76 stores and concessions, employing 347 employees, while Cardiff-based Peacocks operates 423 stores with 4,369 employees, FRP said.
The appointment of the administrators has not resulted in immediate layoffs or the closure of stores.
Tony Wright, Co-Administrator and Partner at FRP, said: “Jaeger and Peacocks are attractive brands that have suffered from the well-known challenges many retailers face today.
“We are in advanced conversations with various parties and we are working hard to secure a future for both companies.”
EWM Group had already placed its Edinburgh Woolen Mill and Ponden Home brands under management earlier this month.
Retail has been one of the sectors hardest hit by the economic impact of the pandemic, with chains from Marks and Spencer and John Lewis to Boots and DW Sports announcing thousands of job cuts.
The latest lockdown in England has deepened the crisis for many, coming in the middle of the crucial “golden quarter” before Christmas.
It means that despite positive advances on potential vaccines pointing to what the Bank of England governor has described as a “light at the end of the tunnel” for the economy, businesses and workers are still calculating the cost.
The government’s leave plan to support temporarily laid off workers has been extended into the spring, but the latest unemployment figures showed that even before the latest shutdown, layoffs had reached a record high.
