Evans sell-off 'quashes hopes for the rescue of all of Arcadia retail empire'

The Arcadia Group went into administration recently, putting 1,000 jobs in Ireland at risk, although senior retail analyst Chloe Collins says there is "no doubt that Topshop will attract multiple bids".

Cork’s Topshop Topman of the Arcadia Group, which collapsed into administration. Picture: Dan Linehan

Lingering hopes that a buyer would be found for all of the fashion chains owned by the Arcadia retail giant, best known for its Topshop stores, have been "squashed" as parts of Evans have been sold, a senior analyst has said.  

The deal involves the administrators in Britain selling off Evans online and warehouse operations only, which means its stores will close, according to Chloe Collins, senior retail analyst at Global Data. UK administrator Deloitte in the UK said the stores will continue to trade for the time being.

The buyer is City Chic, which is paying £23m (€25m) for the brand name, as well as the online and warehouse facilities. 

"This acquisition now means that hopes of potential bidders for a deal involving all of the Arcadia group’s brands have been quashed," said Ms Collins. 

The Arcadia Group, which also includes Topman, Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins, and Burton, went into administration in Britain and Ireland this month, putting up to 1,000 jobs in Ireland and 13,000 in Britain at risk. 

"While there is no doubt that Topshop will attract multiple bids, with the likes of Boohoo and Next reportedly interested, Wallis and Burton Menswear are Arcadia’s brands most at risk of extinction, due to waning relevance and the redundancy of their formalwear ranges amidst the pandemic,” said Ms Collins. 

Meanwhile, Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group, best known for its Sports Direct shops, withdrew its 2021 forecast after it was forced to shut all its stores in London and several parts of England under a new coronavirus threat. 

The company cited the impact of new lockdowns during a peak trading period and the high likelihood of further rolling lockdowns over the following months as the reasons behind the move. 

Frasers had earlier this month raised the lower end of its annual forecast following strong online sales and the reopening of stores at the start of December.