Intu collapses into administration

British shopping centre operator Intu has fallen into administration following failed crunch talks with its lenders, becoming the latest - and one of the largest - casualties of British retail in recent months.

The firm, which operates Manchester’s Trafford Centre and Lakeside in Essex, announced Friday that it had appointed accountancy firm KPMG as administrator.

The company’s shopping centres will continue to trade for now and “underlying group operating companies remain unaffected”. Its shares listed on the London and Johannesburg stock exchanges have been suspended.

Shopping operator giant Intu enters administration

Intu, which employs around 2,400 people and operates 17 shopping centres in the UK, had been in crunch talks with key stakeholders to reach a standstill agreement ahead of the deadline of 26 June 2020. But on Friday, it said that “insufficient alignment and agreement has been achieved on such terms”.

The indebted company had been particularly hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. Earlier this month, it said it expected to collect 310 million pounds in rent in 2020, 181.6 million pounds less than the 491.6 million pounds it collected for 2019.

Just 13.8 percent of retail property rents were paid for this week’s quarter rent day, compared to 19.8 percent paid for the previous quarter rent day in March. That’s according to analysis by cloud-based commercial property management platform Re-Leased.

Photo credit: Intu Lakeside