24,000 jobs in danger as Peacocks and Jaeger owner faces collapse
EWM chief executive Steve Simpson claimed: “Like each and every retailer, we have observed the earlier 7 months extremely complicated.
“This predicament has developed worse in new months as we have experienced to deal with a sequence of wrong rumours about our payments and buying and selling which have impacted our credit history insurance.
“Traditionally, EWM has always traded with robust dollars reserves and a conservative stability sheet, but these tales, the reduction in credit history insurance, versus the backdrop of the lockdown and now this second wave of Covid-19, and all the nearby lockdowns, have made typical buying and selling not possible.
“As directors we have a responsibility to the small business, our staff, our consumers and our lenders to locate the pretty finest remedy in this brutal surroundings.
“So we have used to court today for a small breathing room to evaluate our choices ahead of transferring to appoint directors.
“Through this process I hope and think we will be capable to secure the finest long run for our corporations, but there will inevitably be considerable cuts and closures as we perform our way by way of this.
“I would like to thank all our staff for their wonderful efforts for the duration of this time and also our consumers who have remained so faithful and dedicated to our makes.”
The retail sector is one particular of the industries to put up with the most as a consequence of lockdowns to curb the spread of coronavirus. Even with a rise in product sales following restrictions finished in June, merchants have so much slashed hundreds of employment in bids to endure.