River Island has received the urgently needed approval of the British High Court for his restructuring plan. This allows the company to implement the planned branch closures and start looking for new funds.
With the support of the court, the retailer now has the green light for the closure of 33 British branches and for rental kits in another 71 branches. In addition, the company wants to demand cuts or suspensions of certain rent payments from its landlords. The decision only affects the British branches, the Irish locations are not affected.
In the course of the court hearing and the associated documents, it became known that River Island employs around 6,250 employees: inside, of which around 5,000 in the branches. According to the company, a total of 122 positions remain “untouched”. At the same time, River Island is trying for fresh capital of £ 54 million (around 65 million euros) to stabilize his balance sheet.
The company had already called its creditors in the past month: on the inside to agree to the plan. It was said that River Island could collapse “within a few weeks” if the “radical” proposal should not be accepted.
Ultimately, only half of the creditors voted: inside for the strategy. Significantly less than the required three quarters, which would have been necessary for direct consent. Therefore, the decision was passed on to the High Court. On August 8, however, nobody appeared in court to oppose the proposals.
Following the believer meeting on August 1, Michelle Quinn, partner of the landlord Grosvenor, commented on the result of the vote. This was “expected”. She admitted that it meant a “considerable rental sequence” for some landlords: inside. At the same time, she showed understanding of the challenges that retailers are currently standing in front of: and referred to the dwindling interest of young people in stationary trade.
Quinn added: “If landlords: Inside continue to demand high prices, this is unfortunately not beneficial for a flourishing city center.”
A lack of transparency exacerbates tensions between landlords: inside and retailers: inside
Matthew Weaver KC, representative of River Island, also spoke about the tense situation before the High Court on Friday. The independent quoted the company “simply not reversed” its financial problems.
Among other things, he named declining customers: interior numbers and sales, a “competitive and changing retail environment” as well as the continuing trend away from inpatient trade to online shopping as central challenges.
It is possible that the decision is contested by angered landlords: on the inside. Many of them face similar problems, since other retailers also have to deal with financial difficulties and close branches or reduce rents. For example, the commercial property owner British Land is said to have commissioned lawyers to examine River Island’s restructuring plans and its competitors Poundland. Poundland is also planning to close several branches.
Mark Bruce, Data and Insights Director at Kinexio, a platform for commercial real estate management, told Fashionunited: “The fact that restructuring plans are used to close and reduce rents shows that it is still transparent between some landlords: Inside and retailers: Inside, as far as the performance of individual branches concerns.”
He added: “In such a dynamic sector as retail, there should be a real -time analysis of the sales data in order to enable more flexible rental models in which rents quickly adapt to the current market conditions. Complex procedures such as CVAs and restructuring plans should not be necessary in order to close performance -weak branches.”
In response to these assessments, Weaver stated that “there could be a try of some creditor rental companies: inside, to pull value out of the company through a blackmail position,” as the independent reported.
In conclusion, he emphasized: “The transformation plan essentially aims to remedy the causes of the group’s difficulties and re -position River Island in the long term. It combines operational improvements, cost optimization and strategic investments – all decisively to restore profitability, to improve the cash flow and to secure jobs.”
River Island’s economic problems came to light in 2023: The company posted an input tax loss of around £ 32.2 million (around 39 million euros), while sales decreased by 19 percent. At the beginning of 2025 River Island commissioned the consulting company Alixpartners with the development of strategies for reducing costs and began with the job cuts – affected were among the areas of purchasing and merchandising.
In June 2025, PWC was finally entrusted with the development of a formal restructuring plan. In a previous financial report, the company had already pointed out the “pressure of a competitive and changing retail environment in connection with increasing economic uncertainty” as a central business risk.
This article was used with digital tools translated.
Fashionunited uses artificial intelligence to accelerate the translation of articles and improve the end result. They help us make the international reporting of fashionunited a German -speaking readership quickly and comprehensively accessible. Articles that have been translated using AI-based tools are read and carefully edited by our editor: Correcting inside before they are published. If you have any questions or comments, please contact me by email to [email protected]