The first of two crucial meetings has recorded 95 per cent in favour of cutting the company’s rent bill. It impacts some of 123 BHS stores, with a vote later today impacting a further 23. The move detailed plans to sell the BHS flagship Oxford Street store for around £30m as well as outlining 77 stores which will pay the same rent as now but monthly. rather than quarterly. As yet the future of the seven stores in Sussex; Brighton, Crawley, Chichester, Eastbourne, Horsham, Hastings and Worthing, is unknown. Currently the retailer has debts of more than £1.3bn and has been making a loss for the last seven years. The Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) has been regarded the final chance to prevent BHS ending up in administration which would put 10,000 worker’s jobs under threat. The position has been unstable for a while with it being widely reported last year that billionaire owner Sir Philip Green had sold the company for £1, 15 years after he had purchased it for £200m. BHS is currently owned by Retail Acquisitions, a consortium of financiers, lawyers and accountants.
