La Senza to enter administration in UK

UK retailer La Senza has said that it intends to enter administration.

The lingerie chain blamed "trading conditions" and "the overall macro environment" for its decision.

An administrator will now be chosen within 10 days, in accordance with the UK Insolvency Act.

The retailer, which has some 2,600 UK staff at 146 stores and 18 concessions, said it continued to trade as normal, and there have been no unplanned redundancies or store closures.

The firm also has 13 franchises internationally, from Iceland to Latvia, that are not thought to be affected by the move into administration.

The UK chain should not be confused with the Canadian lingerie firm by the same name, from which the UK stores were spun off.

La Senza said that it continued to work with accountants KPMG "to explore all options to safeguard the future of the company and its employees".

The firm was bought by a private equity group, Lion Capital, in 2006 and had sales last year of about £140m.

"It's sad because it's a company that I used to consider was my baby back in the early 2000s and it's sad to see it go off the High Street," former owner Theo Paphitis told BBC Radio 5 live.

"But it's a sign of the times I suppose."

Mr Paphitis bought the chain in 1998, revived its fortunes, and then sold his stake in the company to Lion Capital for £100m.
(from BBC)