Select CVA secures 87 per cent creditor approval

The CVA was given the green light by 87 per cent of the chain’s creditors and landlords at a meeting in Central London today.

It has shops in Hagley Mall, Halesowen; Bradford Mall, Walsall; New Square Shopping Centre, West Bromwich and Dudley Street, Wolverhampton.

Select said the approval secures the current employment of its 1,800 employees and preserves the operation of its 169 stores, centralised head office and warehouse facilities.

It comes after the company fell into administration on May 9. Following this, joint administrators Andrew Andronikou, Brian Burke and Carl Jackson of business advisory firm Quantuma, filed CVA proposals at the High Court on May 24.

Mr Andronikou said: “The approval of the joint administrator’s proposals gives the best outcome for creditors as a whole. This will mean no immediate closures of the company’s stores, and no immediate redundancies.

“This should provide a platform upon which the company can deliver changes to its operational costs and structures, allowing it to stabilise and move forwards.

”As widely reported, there are many challenges in the UK retail sector, a factor which has adversely affected the high street. We are therefore pleased with the outcome of today’s meeting and the support displayed by creditors in their acceptance of the proposal, which has resulted in the rescue of the business.”

Select filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators at the High Court on March 29.

This is the second CVA launched by Select in just over a year. The chain entered into a CVA last April, which enabled it to cut its rents by up to 75% and saved nearly 2,000 jobs.

Select’s turnover was £116.7 million for the 18 months to December 2 2017, and it made an operating loss of £15.5m. This compared with a turnover of £81.26m for the 12 months to June 4 2016, and an operating loss of £1.5m.