Another high street casualty as fashion chain Republic confirms administration

A Republic store in Westfield shopping centre in Stratford City, East London (Sean Dempsey/PA Wire)

The fashion chain Republic collapsed into administration today to put 2500 jobs at risk and a mark a major failure for a US private equity giant.

Accountancy firm Ernst & Young was appointed as administrator at Republic, which has 121 stores and was acquired for £300 million by TPG in 2010. EY has immediately made 150 staff at the retailer’s head office in Leeds redundant.

EY’s Hunter Kelly said: “Republic suffered poor trading results in the autumn, and whilst sales picked up in December there has been a sudden and rapid decline in sales in late January. The impact on cash flows has resulted in the business being unable to continue to operate outside of an insolvency process.”