Retail survival rates dwindling after high street administrations
JUST over 2,000 out of 2,850 shops have been shut this year after 15 major retailers collapsed into administration, new figures out yesterday by FRP Advisory show.
Research by the restructuring firm shows that a shop’s survival rate has worsened in the first nine months of the year to 29 per cent compared with a 50 per cent survival rate in the same period in 2012.
The first quarter saw a wave of high profile collapses within the entertainment and electricals sector such as Jessops and HMV while from March onwards failures tended to come from clothing and homeware firms such as Ark and Dwell.
“The rescue sale out of administration of Nichole Farhi has proved the exception rather than the rule, with most distressed business purchasers this year tending to buy at best a fraction of the original company’s portfolio of shops and concessions,” FRP partner Glyn Mummery said.
On average 43 per cent of staff were kept on after retailers were rescued out of administration in the period, down from 46 per cent at the end of 2012. Mummery said he was sceptical that they reflected the true number of jobs kept on long term.