Quiz announces nearly 100 jobs could be lost as subsidiary goes into administration

A London fashion retailer has announced that it will be putting its subsidiary into administration.

Quiz has reported that it is seeking to appoint administrators to its subsidiary Kast Retail as it attempts to revive its store portfolio.

The company has 82 Kast Retail standalone stores in the UK and ROI, and is “proposing to subsequently acquire from Kast (acting through its administrators) the business and certain assets of Kast for a cash consideration of £1.3m”.

This will result in 93 of Kast’s current 915 staff being made redundant, which it said is due to the closure of stores during the coronavirus pandemic.

Tarak Ramzan, chief executive of Quiz, commented: “It is with deep sadness and regret for some of our colleagues and partners that we had to take this decision to restructure the group’s operations.

“Physical retail in the UK was facing a major structural challenge prior to the outbreak of Covid-19 with the economics of operating stores on traditional leases becoming increasingly difficult.

“Whilst we have taken pro-active actions over the past 18 months to drive footfall to our stores and renegotiate leases to improve performance, the significant economic uncertainty we now face as consumers and businesses emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic has meant that, in order to ensure a sustainable future for the group, we have taken this decision to place the subsidiary which operates our stores into administration.

“We continue to believe that stores, with appropriate property costs and flexible lease terms, can continue to be a relevant pillar in our omnichannel model and we will be seeking to reopen Quiz stores where we believe it is prudent and economic to do so.

“We believe that with an appropriately structured store estate in combination with our capital light concession model, international channel and online focus Quiz will be better positioned for all its stakeholders over the long term.”