Barratts shoe shops go into administration

The shoe seller Barratt became the latest high-street brand to enter administration due to slumping sales yesterday. The accountancy firm Deloitte was hired to handle the administration of five operating businesses while Stylo, the listed company that owns them, had its shares suspended, but Stylo was not put into administration, and Barratt's stores remain open and continue to trade, while the business is restructured. Should Barratt's creditors and landlords sign up to revised terms, the operating companies will be brought out of administration and resume trading as a going concern. Creditors and landlords are due to vote on the proposals on 12 February. They include an indexing of the rent landlords are paid, giving them the equivalent of 3 per cent of a given store's turnover for the first three months of the arrangement, followed by 7 per cent for the next 21 months. The proposals also include a deferral of payments to trade creditors.