Arcadia restructuring to see over 1,000 job losses

Arcadia this week came to an agreement with its landlords to avoid a collapse and inevitably entering administration. But the agreement is not without consequences and job losses for many of the company’s staff and employees. The ailing retailer will have to cut 170 jobs at its headquarters and approximately 1,000 shop floor jobs with the closing of a reported 50 of its stores across Topshop and Topman, Evans, Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins and Burton Menswear.

The structural changes means the majority of Arcadia’s 17,000 personnel will keep their contracts, as the company voluntary agreement (CVA) is put in place.

Next week Arcadia will enter a redundancy consultancy process, which is likely to last at least a month. “Following yesterday’s CVA vote, as outlined, the group are proposing to make some structural changes in order to support and deliver the turnaround plan,” said Arcadia.

According to the BBC, retail analysts say Arcadia's woes are due less to rentals than to its failure to compete, losing their edge to contemporary "fast-fashion" retailers, such as Zara and H&M, to pure online players such as Asos.

Back in 2005 the Green family paid itself the highest dividend in UK history - 1.2 billion pounds - at a time when many believed the group could have used the investment to reinvigorate its businesses across its portfolio brands.

Article sources: BBC and Retail Gazette