Jacques Vert owner prepares to call in administrators

Up to 1,000 more jobs in fashion retail are at risk as Calvetron Brands, the owner of Jacques Vert, Dash and Precis, prepares to call in the administrators a year after the last rescue deal for the brands.

According to Sky News, Calvetron Brands Limited is expected to call in administrators Duff & Phelps within the next 24 hours. It is understood that the brands had suffered weak trading at their department store concessions in branches of House of Fraser and Debenhams.

Last June, the former Style Group Brands (the previous owner of the brands), was sold in a pre-pack deal Calvetron Style Holdings, which at the time was a newly incorporated investment vehicle backed Sandeep Vyas and Haseeb Aziz, who were also advised by retail entrepreneur Harold Tillman. Tillman, the former owner of Jaeger and Acquascutum, had, however, subsequently left the business.

At the time of that deal 17 of the brands' UK standalone stores were closed along with seven concessions in Belgium. However five stores and more than 300 UK recessions remained. It is understood the company employs almost 1,000 staff in the UK with a further 400 more staff in Canada and Ireland.

The news comes just a day after House of Fraser announced that it plans to close an as yet undisclosed number of stores through a CVA process, as part of a deal to secure backing from a new Chinese Investor C.banner. High street retailers New Look and Select are also currently trading under CVAs as they financially restructure, with New Look seeking to close 60 of its 600 stores.