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MK One stores sale saves jobs sales
Robert Lea25 Nov 2008
Retail: Around 800 jobs have been saved after the administrators of perennially-struggling MK One sold on a large part of the discount womenswear retailer.
However, several hundred other MK One staff are looking at a bleak Christmas, including those in the head office in Acton, West London, which has been closed.
MK One, once owned by rag trade billionaire Sir Philip Green and more recently by deeply troubled Icelandic investor Baugur, slumped into administration last week - the second time this year.
Administrator Neil Bennett of Leonard Curtis said today that he has sold 80 of the 125 shops to Internacionale Retail, a rival so-called fast fashion retailer selling catwalk styles cheaply.
Glasgow-based Internacionale was itself rescued earlier this year by the Indian textiles group S Kumars Nationwide.
"We believe this time the new business has a strong future," said Bennett, who admitted if he could not find a buyer for the remaining 45 stores they would have to close.
