FOUR MONSOON AND Accessorize stores are to close permanently in Ireland after administrators were appointed to the companies last night.

In total, 35 stores in the UK and Ireland will close, resulting in 545 job losses. The Irish stories are on Grafton Street in Dublin, Market Cross shopping centre in Kilkenny and two shops on Patrick Street in Cork. 

Administrators from business advisory firm FRP were appointed last night and sold Monsoon Accessorize Limited and Accessorize Limited to Adena Brands, a company ultimately controlled by Peter Simon, founder of Monsoon.

FRP said the transaction includes the sale of the brands and intellectual property, its digital business, the head office and design teams, the group’s distribution centre in Northamptonshire, as well as the transfer of around 450 jobs.

“As part of the deal, Adena Brands has provided a £15m cash injection into the businesses to ensure that they can continue to trade without interruption,” it said.

The joint administrators will now work with Adena Brands as it negotiates the remaining 162 store leases with landlords. FRP said the transfer of leases could protect as many as 2,300 retail jobs.

The administration followed a strategic review by the companies as the current structure of the business was “unviable due to the impact of Covid-19 and the subsequent lockdown and effects of the closure of all their shops”. The companies’ directors subsequently decided to appoint administrators.

Tony Wright, joint administrator and partner at FRP, said: “We had to move quickly and decisively to secure the future of Monsoon and Accessorize, as many jobs as possible and the presence of these two iconic brands on the UK high street. After assessing a range of options this deal achieves those goals with least disruption to the business in an already challenging retail environment.

“We are now committed to working with Adena Brands as they enter talks with landlords to agree future terms across their store portfolio and look to transfer more jobs to the buyer. We’ll also be working with the Redundancy Payments Service to support all affected employees through this difficult time.”