THE COLLAPSE in the retail market has claimed another 300 jobs with the liquidation of ladies’ fashion company Sasha. In business for 27 years, it was the largest of the indigenous retail chains. The firm had debts of €9.84 million in October.
The unlimited company behind the chain, Denholme, went into interim examinership last November to “facilitate proposed new investment from a number of interested parties”. However, the investment failed to materialise.
Staff representatives were told of the development at a series of briefings in the afternoon.
Established in 1982, Sasha survived the economic ravages of the 1980s and had 42 stores in the business before going into liquidation yesterday.
The company’s collapse comes as consumers curtail spending due to concerns over job security, the worsening economic outlook and a rise in the number of shoppers travelling to avail of sterling’s weakness in Northern Ireland.
David Carson of Deloitte was appointed liquidator to Denholme in the High Court, an appointment which followed his work as examiner and interim examiner.
In a statement last night, he indicated that trading conditions had worsened considerably during the course of the examinership.
“In the period since that appointment, there has been a marked deterioration in the trading conditions faced by the group. Consequently, there was no longer a reasonable prospect of survival and the company was put into liquidation today.”
Sasha’s directors are William Walsh and Angela Cahill, both of whom are based in Co Cork.
The company’s general unsecured creditors were owed a total of €7.87 million, €3.37 million of it owing to trade creditors. Bank of Ireland was owed €2.41 million and the Revenue was owed €2.18 million.
The company had rent arrears in the amount of €2.05 million and arrears with local authorities in the amount of €634,477. Outstanding directors’ loans in October stood at €1.13 million.
Sasha’s demise follows the sharpest decline in retail sales for more than 25 years. The volume of retail sales in December was 8.3 per cent lower than the same month in 2007 and retail sales dropped 8 per cent in the last three months of 2008, the largest quarterly decrease since 1982.
Since the start of the year, 95 jobs were lost in the Land of Leather chain. Music retailer Zavvi closed its Blanchardstown store with the loss of 19 jobs.
In addition, Superquinn is cutting 400 jobs and closing its Dundalk outlet in response to a sales slump.
