Topshop owner Arcadia and Debenhams go into administration

Retail giants Debenhams and Topshop are set to close, risking 25,000 jobs between them.

Topshop’s owner Arcadia fell into administration first, risking 13,000 jobs, followed by Debenhams, risking 12,000.

Debenhams jobs will disappear over the coming months unless administrators strike a deal for all or parts of the business.

Debenhams has been in administration since April, with its last hopes of staying afloat sank after the last bidder, JD Sports, withdrew.

Stores will continue accepting storecards, and will be processing returns as usual.

Topshop went into administration after the pandemic "severely impacted" sales across the group.

In a statement, it was announced that no redundancies would be announced immediately.

Topshop, which runs 444 stores in the UK and 22 overseas, said 9,294 employees are currently on furlough.

Arcadia’s boss, Ian Grabiner said: "The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, including the forced closure of our stores for prolonged periods, has severely impacted on trading across all of our brands.

"Throughout this immensely challenging time our priority has been to protect jobs and preserve the financial stability of the group, in the hope that we could ride out the pandemic and come out fighting on the other side.

"Ultimately, however, in the face of the most difficult trading conditions we have ever experienced, the obstacles we encountered were far too severe."