AllSaints has revealed a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) proposal which will restructure its store portfolio in the UK and US.

The fashion retailer aims to renegotiate contracts with its landlords to move 41 stores in the UK and 42 stores in North America to turnover-rent, while a "small number" will close where business is no longer feasible.

Alvarez & Marsal managing directors Richard Fleming and Mark Firmin will lead the CVA process and creditors will vote on the proposal at meetings scheduled for 3 July in the US and 6 July in the UK.

AllSaints trades from 255 stores in 26 countries and employs more than 3,000 people.

A statement explained that prior to the outbreak of the Coronavirus, AllSaints had delivered year-on-year revenue growth for five successive years, with sales growth in every region and across every channel in which it operates during its last financial year.

However, the closure of the vast majority of its store estate globally has had “a substantial and sudden impact” on short-term sales.

“While AllSaints is now beginning to re-open its stores around the world, it is doing so in the environment of an ongoing pandemic, with extensive social distancing measures in place, and significant uncertainty around customer appetite to travel and shop in store,” the retailer stated.

“A compromise with the group’s creditors, via the CVAs, is therefore now required to ensure the viability of AllSaints’ business - this will enable the group to sustain a strong physical retail presence, which in turn will allow it to protect jobs and continue to serve its customers.”

Chief executive Peter Wood added: “The CVAs will allow us to sustain a strong physical retail presence, which in turn will allow us to protect jobs and continue to provide great product and service to our customers.

“Prior to the outbreak of the pandemic we were seeing increased demand for AllSaints in every part of the world in which we operate, and during lockdown we have continued to reach new customers via our online channels.”

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