Deloitte appointed administrator of Bank Fashion

UK retailer Bank Fashion has recently gone into administration and Deloitte has been called in as administrator. As it stands no redundancies have been issued and the doors are still open while a new buyer is being sought.

Bank Fashion (Bank) is a UK fashion retailer based in Bury, Lancashire. It has 1,555 employees that operate from its 84 stores, primarily in the Midlands, North of England and Scotland. The company was founded in 1991 under the name A G Sports and changed its name to Bank Fashion in 2003.

In 2007, Bank was bought by JD Sports which paid £18.5 million. After the company recorded an £8.1 million loss last financial year, Bank was sold to a subsidiary of specialist retail investor Hilco in late November 2014 for just £1 for the shares. The Hilco subsidiary found within two weeks of their taking ownership that keeping Bank solvent was not possible, after a review by Hilco’s Chief Restructuring Officer Alan Ganor. As a result, Bank went into administration.

To oversee the Bank’s administration, Bill Dawson, Daniel Smith and Paul Meadows of business advisory firm Deloitte have been appointed Joint Administrators. “Bank has struggled in a highly competitive segment of the retail industry and has been loss-making for a number of years,” says Dawson.

So far, the business is running normally and no redundancies have been made apparent. “All stores are open as normal, staff have been paid and additional sale discounts will be implemented later this week. The company has already been approached by several parties who have expressed an interest in the business and the Administrators are trading as a going concern with a view to progressing these options and seeking further interested parties for some or all of the business,” concludes Dawson.