A MAJOR high street fashion chain with 60 stores has crashed into administration this evening.
Struggling retailer Quiz Clothing called in administrators just days after its shares were removed from the London Stock Exchange.
The company, renowned for its party wear, has faced significant challenges in recent years and has now enlisted the services of insolvency practitioner Teneo to oversee its collapse.
The development is expected to result in the closure of 23 undisclosed stores, with approximately 200 employees anticipated to be made redundant, according to Sky News.
The deal is anticipated to take the form of a pre-pack administration, with the remaining assets set to be acquired by Orion Retail, a subsidiary owned by the founding Ramzan family.
A “pre-pack administration” is an insolvency process for a business to sell its assets before appointing administrators – it’s a way of selling a business to a third-party buyer.
Orion will hold the right to trade from 42 outlets previously occupied by Zandra Retail, which currently operates Quiz’s standalone stores in the UK.
At the time of its collapse, Quiz employed approximately 1,500 people across its 65 standalone stores and numerous concessions.
However, all stores currently remain open for business as usual, and customers can continue to shop online without interruption.
Quiz’s online business, concessions and international operations are operated by other subsidiaries and are unaffected by tonight’s announcement.
Sheraz Ramzan, chief executive of Quiz said: “The Board took the difficult decision to appoint administrators to Zandra Retail Limited in light of the continuing challenging trading conditions impacting the Group’s performance.
“We are deeply sorry to those affected by the store closures, including our retail colleagues.
“However, this decision will put the business in a more sustainable footing for the future and protect several hundred jobs as a result.”
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”RETAIL MISERY” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”1807990984680607128″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”] [boxout headline=”What does going into administration mean?” intro=”WHEN a company enters into administration, all control is passed to an appointed administrator.”]The administrator has to leverage the company’s assets and business to repay creditors any outstanding debts.
Once a company enters administration, a “moratorium” is put in place which means no legal action can be taken against it.
Administrators write to your creditors and Companies House to say they’ve been appointed.
They try to stop the company from being liquidated (closing down), and if it can’t it pays as much of a company’s debts from its remaining assets.
The administrator has eight weeks to write a statement explaining what they plan to do to move the business forward.
This must be sent to creditors, employees and Companies House and invite them to approve or amend the plans at a meeting.
A Notice of Intention is used to inform concerning parties that a company intends to enter administration.
It is a physical document which is submitted to court, usually by directors aiming to prevent a company from being liquidated.
Like with a standard administration process, a Notice of Intention stops creditors from taking out any legal action over a company while they try and rectify the business.
What’s been happening at Quiz?
The retailer has faced difficulties for some time.
Its precarious position worsened in December when reports emerged that its lender, HSBC, had engaged restructuring experts, signalling a potential crisis for the fashion chain.
The retailer, best known for its women’s party fashion ranges, warned at the start of December that a “significant reduction in revenues” could lead it to run out of cash in the new year.
The business has already gone through one restructuring in 2020 after going in to administration and renegotiated its rents as lock downs damaged retailers.
Since the beginning of December 2024, Quiz Clothing’s value has plummeted by 50%.
Shortly before delisting from the stock market in a cost-saving measure, its market capitalisation had dwindled to a mere £3.6million.
Quiz Clothing, Teneo and Interpath have all been contacted for comment.
Quiz’s difficulties reflect a broader crisis engulfing the UK retail sector.
[iframe src=”https%3A%2F%2Fdatawrapper.dwcdn.net%2Fj4Q2Y%2F2%2F” height=”806″ width=”100″ /]Several other prominent retailers are also facing challenges, including Poundland‘s parent company which is exploring strategic options with advisers.
Lakeland has been put up for sale, and The Original Factory Shop nearing a sale to Baaj Capital.
Last month, WHSmith revealed it is looking to sell all 500 high street stores.
The retail group has been in negotiations with several prospective buyers of the high street division for several weeks.
The Sun revealed yesterday that advisers working for WHSmith have been in discussions with Doug Putman, the Canadian entrepreneur who rescued HMV from bankruptcy in 2019.
It is hoped that a deal can be reached within three months, according to sources.
Which retailers went bust in 2024?
During 2024, 27 retailers of all sizes went bust, affecting 886 shops and 17,939 employees, according to the Centre for Retail Research.
The number of casualties is more than half the previous year’s rate of retail collapses when 61 chains failed and 971 shops were impacted.
Here, we explain some of the biggest retailers that got into trouble in 2024…
Sook
Sook was one of the first retail casualties of 2024 and was particularly depressing as it was meant to be the answer to empty high street stores.
The business operated 12 pop-up shops across the country in London, Birmingham, Southampton, Liverpool, Newcastle and Leeds and made high street space available for online brands like TikTok.
Tile Choice
Tile Choice, a Midlands-based flooring retailer with 18 shops, went into administration in January 2024.
Nine stores were snapped up by rival Tile Giant but the rest were not saved.
The business had 116 staff and £16million turnover in the last financial year, but had struggled with a slowdown in spending.
LloydsPharmacy
LloydsPharmacy, once the UK’s second biggest community pharmacy chain, went into liquidation in late January with debts of £293million.
The previous year it had closed all of its pharmacies inside Sainsbury’s and divided its 1,000 pharmacy estate into packages of hundreds of stores that it then sold to rivals in smaller deals.
There are no more LloydsPharmacy-branded sites on the high street, but it continues to operate online.