It is crunch time for one of the UK's best-known High Street names, the troubled department store, British Home Stores (BHS).
Its creditors will vote on Wednesday on a deal it desperately needs to cut the rent bill for its 164 UK stores.
The loss-making retailer currently has debts of over £1.3bn, including a pensions deficit of £571m.
BHS was bought by billionaire Sir Philip Green for £200m in 2000, but he sold it last year for just £1.
It is now owned by Retail Acquisitions, a consortium of financiers, lawyers and accountants.
BHS - which has been loss-making for seven years - wants its creditors to agree to a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA).
In effect, this is a compromise financial deal which depends on them accepting reduced rents.
Otherwise BHS is likely to end up in administration, placing the jobs of its 10,000 workers at risk.
Cutting rents
BHS says a deal to cut its rental costs is vital in order to turn around the loss-making business.
"Although
a difficult process to go through, this sets in motion the
comprehensive updated turnaround plan," says its chief executive, Darren
Topp.
The retailer has divided its stores into three groups - depending on their profitability.
For
77 stores the rents it pays will remain unchanged, while for 47 stores
BHS is "seeking a reduction in rent to market levels".
Its
least-profitable 40 stores will continue to trade for a minimum period
of 10 months while talks go ahead "to reduce rents substantially", says
the retailer.
At Wednesday's meeting BHS needs 50% of its landlords and 75% of its creditors to agree to the deal.
However, Julie Palmer, retail analyst at insolvency experts Begbies Traynor, says BHS is confident it will get an agreement.
"It
is passing the buck essentially to the landlords - with promise of a
reduced but continued rental income for the next 10 months."
Mr Topp said a deal would give BHS "a secure financial footing from which to grow and deliver sustainable profitability".
BHS is also in talks to address its pension deficits
with the Pension Protection Fund, the government-supported rescue
agency, as well as the Pensions Regulator and the BHS pension trustees.
BHS insists that it continues to meet its pension payment obligations.
But
in BHS's CVA submission, the retailer's directors are clearly hoping
that the two pension schemes will be transferred into the PPF and that
the company would have no further liability to fund it.
Yet even
if landlords agree a deal, BHS warns that it needs extra funding to
trade beyond 25 March and it is trying to raise £100m.
'Tired and old-fashioned'
Crucially a deal does not mean that BHS's long term future is secured, says Julie Palmer.
"It buys them time, but the fundamental issues still remain."
With
increasing competition from retailers like Primark and the internet,
the challenge for BHS is to bring in shoppers, she says.
"What do
BHS do, that nobody else does? If you look at homecare, Next do that
better; and if you look at clothing, then Marks and Spencer do it
better."
The problem, says Ms Palmer, is that the BHS brand "is tired and old-fashioned and has not kept pace with the times".
If
BHS does eventually disappear, it would join its long-term rival
Woolworths in failing to keep pace with a changing retail sector.
BHS: A history of a High Street stalwart
- 1928: A group of American entrepreneurs set up British Home Stores. The first store is in Brixton and nothing in the store costs more than a shilling (5p) - double that of rival Woolworth's maximum price of sixpence
- 1929: BHS raises its maximum price to five shillings (25p) allowing it to sell home furnishings, including drapery
- 1970: The firm expands steadily in the postwar era - by the beginning of the year it employs some 12,000 workers in 94 stores across the UK
- 1985: BHS begins to franchise its brand to stores around the world, to which it supplies products and support
- 1986: The store merges with designer Sir Terence Conran's Habitat and Mothercare to form Storehouse Plc, and the "British Home Stores" name is replaced with "BhS", then "Bhs" and eventually "BHS"
- 2000: Retail billionaire Sir Philip Green buys BHS from Storehouse Plc for £200m
- 2002: BHS becomes part of the Arcadia empire, controlled by Sir Philip, when he buys the clothing group and its Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Burton brands
- 2005: The store resurrects its "British Home Stores" branding, but it is losing ground to cheaper rivals like Primark
- 2015: Sir Philip sells the loss-making BHS for £1 to Retail Acquisitions led by Dominic Chappell, writing off £215m of debts in the process
- 2016: BHS begins an insolvency procedure to reduce its rents and transfer its pensions liabilities into the Pension Protection Fund, the government-supported rescue agency
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