Edinburgh Woollen Mill enters administration

High street clothing group Edinburgh Woollen Mill has announced that it has fallen into administration alongside its Ponden Home brand.

Insolvency firm FRP Advisory have been appointed as administrators for the businesses, which they have stated will continue to trade while the search for a buyer takes place.

According to the administrators, the 750 staff at The Edinburgh Woollen Mill and 116 staff at Ponden Home will be made redundant immediately. Owners EWM Group has 21,000 employees in total across their brands, which also include Jane Norman, Bonmarche and Austin Reed. However, those who do not work for the two brands affected are not expected to lose their jobs.

According to the organisation, Edinburgh Woollen Mill has been hit particularly hard by the poor trading conditions during lockdown, as well as credit insurance issues. As a result, all 384 stores will have to be sold. This is also the case for Ponden Home, which will sell all 73 of its sites.

Commenting on the announcement, Tony Wright, joint administrator and partner at FRP, said: "Recent months have proven extremely challenging for many retailers, even those that were trading well before the pandemic, including the teams at Edinburgh Woollen Mill and Ponden Home. The administrations will provide some further protection while we continue our search for buyers to secure the long-term futures for both businesses."

A spokesman for EWM Group added that the ongoing trading conditions and complications caused by the pandemic have made it impossible to prevent the two brands entering administration.

Group owner Philip Day is believed to be working on a pre-pack deal for Peacocks, another of its struggling brands, that would see it taken through the administration process to be immediately sold back to him and finance partner Davidson Kempner.

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