Almost 500 Irish workers are to be made redundant at Arcadia, the UK retailer whose brands include Topshop and Miss Selfridge.
The Mandate trade union confirmed the permanent termination of 490 staff following a meeting between its officials and the liquidator, Deloitte, on Thursday.
Although still trading, the company had been in liquidation since late November and while the redundancies were expected, there had been hopes that a buyer might be found to maintain the bricks-and-mortar side of the business.
The Irish workers will receive statutory redundancy, set at two weeks’ pay per year of service.
It is understood that while the company was in trouble before Covid 19-related retail restrictions were put in place, that blow to its operations did not make it easy to secure a new buyer. Workers were kept on over Christmas in order to shift remaining stock and the company does not have Irish real estate assets.
“It’s more about the brand and the stock,” a Mandate spokesman said. “It’s not like a Clery’s sale [the Dublin department store that closed in 2015]. It’s just the name and it’s a difficult environment in which to sell.”
Mandate had been holding weekly meetings with Deloitte in recent times but the final outcome came as little surprise.
“It’s a very difficult time for a lot of workers who have been there for a long time. We hope the State will come in and give supports as well,” the spokesman said.
Mandate has said it will continue to push for a change in legislation that would allow for a better financial outcome for workers in such redundancies.
Last November, the High Court appointed liquidators to Arcadia Group Multiples Ireland Ltd, Topshop/Topman Ireland Ltd, Wallis Retail Ireland and Miss Selfridge Retail Ireland when their British parent Arcadia Group went into administration in the UK. Online retailer Asos is currently in talks to buy Arcadia.
