FASHION chains Peacocks and Jaeger have collapsed into administration, putting more than 4,700 jobs and almost 500 shops at risk.
It comes after a two-week deadline to find a buyer ended without a deal.
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Peacocks has 4,369 staff across 423 stores, while Jaeger runs 76 shops and concessions and has 347 employees.
The administration means stores could disappear from the high street, but the owners are looking to sell parts of the business.
Insolvency firms FRP is handling the process.
No redundancies at either store have been announced yet, and no shops have been closed.
What does it mean when a company goes into administration?
ADMINISTRATION is when all control of a company is passed to an appointed to a licensed insolvency practitioner.
It doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the business.
Instead, administrators will try to help a company find ways to repay debts or solve its cashflow problems.
Administration can last anywhere from a few weeks to up to a year or more.
But if the administration process can’t rescue the company or find a new owner, this usually leads to liquidation.
Liquidation is the process of selling all assets and then dissolving the company completely.
It comes after the retailer’s owner Edinburgh Woollen Mill put the stores of its same name into administration earlier this month.
EWM employs more than 21,000 people in all, including at stores such as Peacocks, Jane Norman, Bonmarche, Jaeger and Austin Reed.
Bonmarche, Jaeger and Austin Reed are unaffected by the administration.
A spokesperson from EWM said: “In recent weeks we have had constructive discussions with a number of potential buyers for Peacocks and Jaeger.
“But the continuing deterioration of the retail sector due to the impact of the pandemic and second lockdown have made this process longer and more complex than we would have hoped.
“While those talks are ongoing, we no longer have an option to extend the standstill agreement originally imposed by the High Court six weeks ago any further.”
Tony Wright, joint administrator from FRP Advisory, said: “Jaeger and Peacocks are attractive brands that have suffered the well-known challenges that many retailers face at present.
“We are in advanced discussions with a number of parties and working hard to secure a future for both businesses.”
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