AllSaints creditors support CVA with big majorities

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jul 7, 2020

Fashion retailer AllSaints has won creditor backing for its company voluntary arrangement (CVA) proposals. It means that All Saints Retail Limited and its subsidiary AllSaints USA Limited can proceed with their plans to downsize the chains with a small number of closures and strike new rent deals.

The proposals gained “majorities significantly above the required threshold of 75%”. In fact, creditors backed the plans by 93% and 90%.

CEO Peter Wood thanked its landlords for their support. “We are delighted that the majority of our landlords across the UK, EU, US and Canada voted in favour of our proposals, and would like to thank them for their patience and understanding,” he said. “The decision to launch the CVAs was not taken lightly and this successful outcome will be instrumental in helping us to ensure the long-term viability of All Saints.”

The company is owned by Lion Capital and has around 250 stores globally with 41 of those being in its domestic UK market and 42 in the US. Sales in the most recent year for which we have figures (2018) reached £331 million with the UK accounting for around half at the time.

It’s unclear exactly how many stores will now close but the company wants to keep this to a minimum. What’s a major focus now is getting the right rent deals for the stores that continue to operate. The aim is that rents should relate more closely to turnover.