La Senza to stop trading within the UK

One of Britain's former leading lingerie brands is preparing to shut down its doors for good, as the struggling La Senza prepares to cease all trading within the UK, resulting in the loss of 752 jobs. All remaining La Senza stores are set to close over the next few weeks, as administrators Pricewatercooperhouse

(PwC) wind down the British arm of the label after failing to find a suitable buyer in time following the labels second fall into administration.

La Sen

za to close down UK business branch after entering administration

PwC previously confirmed that La Senza had been “experiencing very difficult trading conditions,” and decided to pull the plug on the failing lingerie brand, two months entering administration. “The challenging conditions in the UK high street are well documented,” commented Robert Moran, joint administrator at PwC.

“Like many other retailers, La Senza has been hit hard by the difficult economic environment.” From the initial 55 stores which the British branch of La Senza operated in the country, 30 have already been closed according to the Sunday Times.

La Senza's UK arm was previously owned by Theo Paphitis, before he sold the label to private equity firm Lion Capital for 100 million pounds in 2006. The lingerie retailer first went into administration in 2012, which at the time led to over 1,300 job redundancies and the termination of more than 100 retail outlets.

However 1,100 jobs managed to be saved when 60 La Senza stores where sold by KPMG to the British branch of Alshaya, an international retail franchise operator manager, in a pre-pack deal. At the time Alshaya had revealed plans to invest roughly 100 million pounds in the lingerie retailer over the next two years.

Alshaya previously worked together with Limited Brands Inc., the parent company of the La Senza branch in the US and Canada. Later in 2013, the name of the UK business arm was changed to Marnixhealth.

Despite its impending store closures, La Senza continues to operate more than 150 stores throughout Canada alone and 330 via its franchise-operated stores in over 30 countries across the world.