Jessops owner plans to call in administrators

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Peter Jones bought Jessops out of administration in 2013

Camera chain Jessops plans to call in administrators as its owner, Dragons Den star Peter Jones, tries to salvage the struggling High Street brand.

Mr Jones bought the chain from administrators in 2013 after it collapsed under £81m of debt.

But since then, the firm, which has 46 shops, has not made a single profit and losses have mounted in recent years.

Last year alone, the business, which employs 500 people, reported a £13m loss as rent costs increased to £4.7m.

Lease charges, which include rent on stores, increased from £4.4m in 2017.

Now Mr Jones is reportedly planning to seek a rescue deal, known as a company voluntary agreement (CVA) with its landlords and lenders. This is an insolvency process that allows a business to reach an agreement with its creditors to pay off all or part of its debts.

Sky News said the CVA was expected to lead to store closures and rent cuts.

But sources close to Jessops said Mr Jones still saw a future in the business and would not say how many of the chain’s stores were at risk of closure.

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Media captionWhen he bought the business in 2013, Peter Jones, said it was a “great day for British retail”.

The chain is the latest High Street brand to acknowledge tough trading conditions.

Last year, big chains such as Toys R Us, Maplin and Poundworld went bust and vanished altogether.

Others such as Homebase, Mothercare, Carpetright and New Look did restructuring deals with their landlords, closing hundreds of shops between them.

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