Truworths negotiating fresh funding for Office

Truworths, the South African owner of Office, has said it is in the process of negotiating further funding for the British footwear retailer.

It is also looking into different restructuring initiatives, including a staff redundancy process and store lease negotiations, in a bid to “secure the long-term viability” of the struggling retailer.

Truworths, which bought a majority stake in Office in 2015, said as a group it has been negatively impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. “As stated in the previous announcement, the Covid-19 pandemic will weigh negatively on the group’s results for the current period, and will result in an impairment of the Group’s carrying value of the Office trademarks and right-of-use assets relating to store leases,” the company said.

In August, Truworths said it was planning to close up to 15 loss-making Office stores in the UK as part of its turnaround strategy.

Photo credit: Office Shoes, Facebook