Womenswear retailer LK Bennett has collapsed into administration, putting its 39 stores at risk of closure.
EY has been appointed to oversee the administration process. It has already closed five stores totalling 20,000 sq ft, resulting in 55 job losses.
These were at the Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield, its Bristol and Liverpool stores, and two London stores, at Brent Cross shopping centre and in Westbourne Grove.
Dan Hurd, joint administrator, said: “Amidst tough trading conditions for retailers, the company has been further impacted by significant rent increases and business rate rises.
“Linda [Bennett] and the management team therefore made the difficult decision to place the company into administration, to protect the future of the business.”
A sale process for the business has commenced. Trading will continue as normal, although web sales have been temporarily suspended.
Hurd added: “LK Bennett is a strong luxury UK brand, the new-season collection was critically acclaimed and recent trading is up, which we hope will be attractive to prospective buyers.”
According to Radius Data Exchange, the potential closures could bring total space lost on the high street up to some 19.4m sq ft since the start of 2018.
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