Overview

• River Island has named 33 UK stores for closure under a PwC-led restructuring plan approved by the High Court on August 8.
• The retailer disclosed a further 110 head-office redundancies, bringing total job losses since January to more than 200.
• As part of the scheme, 38 stores will receive rent discounts of 25–75% for three years, 24 outlets will pay zero rent and nine will continue at full rent.
• Blue Coast Capital’s conditional £40 million funding facility has been released but the chain must still fill a near-term cash gap to avoid administration.
• Landlords who opposed the rent cuts were overruled through a cross-class cram-down, marking a rare court exercise of powers to bind dissenting creditor classes.