The upmarket vogue model LK Bennett seems to be heading for collapse for the second time in six years.
On Tuesday the corporate filed an software with the excessive court docket to appoint an administrator to the enterprise, which employs about 280 employees.
The transfer means that the clothes chain, which was based by Linda Bennett in 1990 and is now owned by China-based backers, seems to have failed in its extensively publicised efforts to unearth a saviour.
Should LK Bennett appoint directors it is going to be the second time in recent times it has entered insolvency proceedings – regardless of its reported high-profile followers, who embody the Duchess of Cambridge and the former prime minister Theresa May.
In 2019 the enterprise collapsed into administration after its house owners failed to discover a new monetary backer. It was subsequently acquired out of insolvency by its Chinese franchise companion, Rebecca Feng, who fought off competitors from Sports Direct’s Mike Ashley.
The vogue business had been watching the destiny of LK Bennett carefully within the run-up to Christmas because the enterprise approached the brink as soon as once more. LK Bennett lists simply 9 UK shops on its web siteplus 13 concessions within the UK, Ireland and on Jersey.
In the corporate’s most up-to-date set of accounts, taking in buying and selling till the tip of January 2024, it misplaced £3.2m and had borrowings of just about £22m. The auditor Grant Thornton warned of “material uncertainty related to going concern” because it reported how the group had breached agreements with its lenders and pointed to a deadline of subsequent month to renegotiate the corporate’s debt pile.
The accounting group added: “It is expected that there may be a breach [of debt covenants] again … Although a letter has been obtained from the bank stating their intention to continue to make all facilities available until at least 31 January 2026, no formal waiver of the covenants has been obtained.”
LK Bennett has been approached for remark.
By Simon Goodley.
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The chain is working with Alvarez & Marsal to sound out potential consumers and buyers, Sky News reported.