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DEBENHAMS IRELAND, WHICH employs 1,400 people, has formally applied for examinership.
The company has 11 stores in Ireland, including a flagship store on Dublin’s Henry Street, but has made losses year-on-year.
Those losses reached €6.7 million last year and the company says its operating costs are “disproportionately high”.
The High Court this afternoon approved the application and appointed Kieran Wallace of KPMG as interim examiner to the business. The business is now under the protection of the court.
In a statement, the company said the examinership will last up to 100 days.
It says they would also “envisage that all 11 stores and online would continue to trade as normal”. All prepaid goods and services, together with gift vouchers and credit notes, will be honoured.
John Bebbington, Director of Debenhams Retail (Ireland) Ltd, says the move is an attempt to secure the long-term future of the company.
“The directors of Debenhams Retail (Ireland) Ltd will work hard to secure the long term future of the business in Ireland, enabling us to continue to serve our customers well, to provide sustainable jobs for our colleagues and to support the Irish economy.
“A key element of the examinership would be to protect as many jobs as possible. We believe this will be in the best long term interests of all our stakeholders. During the examinership process it will be business as usual for all of our stores and online trading.”
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Examinership can bee a good thing. Gives the company a better chance at renegotiating leases for a start, and a chance to get out of leases in locations that simply did not pan out. Worked for B&Q, hopefully will have a similar result in this instance.
I believe as part of the take over deal the Roche family retained ownership of the stores and the leases transferred from Roches Stores to Debenhams.
Sometimes these things are intentional to break contracts such as leases.
the court has to approve examinership – won’t happen unless there’s a need (company becoming insolvent), and unless there’s a possibility of recovering and saving jobs. It can be harsh on creditors, so the courts won’t give protection without substantive evidence that it’s the right thing to do.
You can let your company go insolvent intentionally. You will have all the evidence you need. The parent company can overcharge the subsidiary to make it happen for example.
Dunnes are closing their Cork store and the Unions have informed their Dublin staff of a takeover by ASDA.
The Clerys insolvency and ransack engineered with the eager assistance of KPMG who are appointed as the examiners in this case. The Irish state will always give succour to the parasitic elite.
Asda? Seriously?
Praise be!
Speaking of parasites Wally, how much should LUAS drivers be paid? Roughly speaking, as I know you don’t like details.
How much do you think you should be paid Colin? Or should we let the readers decide?
You’re the one in support of their ridiculous pay claims so you have to be the one to give what you consider to be a reasonable figure.
10% pay rise? 25%? 300%?
Give us poor ignorant plebs some of your wisdom.
Wally? Wal? You there? Wally?
No figure no?
No actual definitive answer as opposed to ramblings?
Wal? Wally?
Still no answer Wally? Eh? Wally?
Any answer? Wally? How much should LUAS driver be paid? Roughly?
Yes, Wally, you’ve scampered away from that question several times here. Do you care to give us your opinion what a reasonable figure is?
Well at least we have a way to run Wally off the forum – just ask him a simple question.
I look forward to asking him again. And again. And again.
David,
When Colin puts an actual figure on how much he thinks he’s worth, I’ll answer his question on the Luas driver’s wage. I have a feeling though that Colin will fail to answer that question while pontificating mightily on how little he thinks the drivers labour is worth.
P.S. It sounds like Colin might be having a bit of a conniption so for his own good, I hope he’s gone for a bit of a lie down.
There closing north main st dunnes only & staff are being transferred to different locations.. Not ideal but there not suffering any job losses..
Unreal. My thoughts with all those working there.
Was it not KPMG who facilitated the ransacking of Clery’s last year? The fox is placed in charge of the chicken coop again.
Solidarity with the debenhams, clearys, greyhound, Luas, cadburys, crazy prices, roches stores, quinnsworth … Who else have I missed wally?
Wally what about the working class at KPMG? Surely many of those people have to sell their labour to earn a living.
Wally
Maybe we should all march to get the Debenham staff a pay rise. I am sure LUAS drivers will support them. Who cares what financial condition the organisation is in.
Darragh. Don’t put greedy luas drivers in witthe other names who have genuine issues. Luas drivers are plain and simple greedy oinks.
Solidarity with the Dell workers, nationalize their factory and make widgets…
How can you forget that one from the AAA.
Iw
But it’s ok to nationalise €100 + billion of private banking debt and ransack the working class to do so?
Darragh, You missed the 999 call operators who’s toilet breaks are timed. Also the nurses and teachers. We don’t want any false division between public and private sector.
Wally I suggest you read up on what examinership is and KPMGs role in the matter. Your ignorance is showing.
Amy I suggest you inform yourself of KPMGs role in the looting of Clerys last year. Your bias is showing.
Wally, I suggest you inform yourself about the real world.
The real world where a profitable company like Clerys is separated from its valuable property in order to be torn asunder by the financial vultures?
Clery’s clearly was not profitable. However the people who shut it down were taking the piss.
Still no answer Wally?
Still no answer yet Wally?
Any answer yet Wally?
Any figure Wally? For LUAS driver salary? Wal! Any idea?
Wally? Any answer? Wally? How much should LUAS driver be paid? Roughly?
Wally? Any answer? Wally? How much should LUAS driver be paid? Roughly?
Ballpark?
Wal?
Where’s Wally?
Wally had to fly Tiarnan – too many awkward questions. Not difficult questions mind, just awkward – when he has to turn his mind to something other than spouting a philosophy that is built on fantasies Wally runs away.
Christ boi do you’ve anything better else to do? At least 2 hours asking the same question….
Maybe stop trying to flog so much stiff with a union jack on it…
This an Irish company.
I love paying 60 euro for a thick t-shirt with a Union Jack plastered across the front
good, but why tell us jason?
I generally stick a few stars around the Union Jack and pretend I’m an Australian fashion icon.
Debenhams are an english company Roches stores were irish..
The company, the subject of this thread, is Irish – and trades as Debenhams…
About four years ago they started stocking nothing but slim fit shirts. Im by no means a fat man, but these shirts fit only a small cohort of people. For every 10 slim fit shirts that have 1 classic fit. Then they wonder why no one is buying them.
Not to mention many of the highly overpriced clothes lines.
Debenhams were taken over by Icelandic investors who had money thrown at them by the banks in that country which was as Dunner would say was pulled out of their arses.
Damn right. Every store is peddling this slim fit stuff. I’m reasonably trim but Twiggy wouldn’t get into that gear. And what’s with jeans half a mile long?
Bring back quinsworth and roches stores
Ah memories.
Don’t forget H Williams
I miss the auld yellow pack stuff… The blue and white stripe stuff didn’t taste the same.. :-)
Sounds like an exercise in rent reduction.
Obvious
Sounds like they want rid of ex Roches contracts to be replaced by minimum wage zero hour Debenhams contracts… Been coming a long time!
They lost 6.7m?
I’m not surprised. Extortionate prices in there.
Even allowing for VAT and currency differentials, £60 =/= €90. If the prices were more realistic, I’d shop there.
Lots of English companies at that over here. An English chain I used to work for looked at the Irish branches as the cash cows because the profit margin was so much higher here owing to the currency exchange. They bought something for £5 pound and sold it for £10 in the UK, €15 Euro in Ireland when rightly it should have been €12.00. They were making at least an extra 20% on the same item. It’s the staff who are the ones who suffer for the greed
Peter
If that was the case then we would have nothing but English shops in Ireland. It’s a little more complex than simply saying due to FX differences they make more money
Shite. I work here..
some recovery
Are they trying this to get rents revised downwards ?
Celtic Tiger upward only rents are a bad hangover…
Glad to see this English economic colonist getting out of Ireland and giving us the chance to take back some economic sovereignty
I suppose internet shopping is killing off these stores. Condolences to the staff. A worrying time.
They price themselves out of the market in Ireland. I shop a lot in Debenhams in London and often if my mum wants something I’ll buy it and bring it over to Ireland when I’m going because it’s a lot cheaper to buy from Debenhams in Sterling than it is in Euro
The stuff is shite, like something out of the 70′s, loads of it, but I wouldn’t take any for free…they need to refresh.
Yep – Ireland is in full recovery – :( – that unemployment figure is starting to look like a phone number
Never was a recovery. Just fiddling the figures around different courses and projects .
The retail trade is a snake pit. even in a recovery there are winners and loosers. tesco may fall victim to aldi etc. that’s capitalism. The laid off people will find jobs in the companies that did for them
I’m not surprised. The Debenhams in Limerick is cat – proper dreary, no atmosphere and a general sense of neglect in there. This shop has the best location in Limerick City centre, right on the main thoroughfare for cars and pedestrians and have the biggest window space of all the shops in town. Have they used it tho? Nope, not at all! It actually annoys me when I see how bad their window display is – it wouldn’t take alot to pull it into 2016!
I agree (see my previous comment), I live near one in Dublin and its very dreary, wouldnt buy anything in it…and im not young!
Is this the start of the Irish arm of British retailers getting out before the Brexit referendum .Who next as there is so many British controlled companies in the Irish market .
Including Guinness…
Bookies expect brexit to fail so I doubt it.
Isn’t Paddy Power in the middle of a major multinational merger?
Only with Betfred.
Betfair*
No, all of them do. Comfortably at that.
Jim
What would the logic in the be?
Neal
PP already acquired Betfair. Deal is done and dusted
Part of the problem must be their pricing structure.I buy most of my clothes there but never at full retail only during the sales which take place every month at this stage .
The men’s section is pretty bad I’m not surprised. Apart from a few decent jeans and belt, there isint much else there unless you want to dress like an old man
Way to expensive to shop there anyway…
It will be in the ‘best long term interests of the Shareholders’ more like……
#keeptherecoverygoing
Bring back Rochester Stores
But enda said keep the recovery going.
Dearest country in the world to do business in, and getting dearer.
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