British Fashion Brand L.K. Bennett Has Closed 5 Stores After Filing For Bankruptcy.

British fashion brand L.K. Bennett filed a bankruptcy petition last Thursday. It has closed 5 stores and laid off 55 people. It is reported that L.K. Bennett is one of the most popular high street brands in Britain's Kate princess.

British media Sky News revealed that L.K. Bennett has officially declared bankruptcy because of the failure of financing, and commissioned the Ernst & amp; Co. to supervise the implementation. At the same time, the brand will reduce its headquarters employees and close 5 British stores, which will cause about 55 people to be laid off.

At present, L.K. Bennett has 130 stores in the world, and there are 41 independent stores and 480 employees in the UK. In addition, brands have stores overseas. However, according to the bankruptcy administrator, apart from the closure of 5 stores in the UK, other sales outlets will find buyers in the company and continue to operate at the same time. International business is not in the scope of bankruptcy management.

L.K. Bennett was founded in London in 1990 by Linda K. Bennett. Since then, it has developed into a first-line fashion brand in the UK. It mainly produces high-end women's shoes, women's bags, clothing and accessories. L.K. Bennett shoes are the favorite of Princess Kate. She often wears this brand of mid heeled shoes for public access, thereby making the brand famous.

But this can not save L.K. Bennett's declining performance. Its net loss in the 2016 fiscal year increased from 1 million 100 thousand pounds in the previous year to 4 million 500 thousand pounds, the turnover fell 1% and the gross profit decreased by 2%. According to the latest earnings report, LK Bennett achieved 77 million 400 thousand pounds in the fiscal year ended July 29, 2017, a 1.8% decrease compared to the previous year, and a loss of 5 million 900 thousand pounds.

LK Bennett Ltd.'s joint manager Dan Hurd said: "the selling process has started." However, its current valuation has not yet been disclosed, but the industry believes that the current valuation of the brand will be less than 80 million to 100 million in view of the years of loss in the brand and the severe environment.

It is worth noting that Linda Bennett has publicly stated that Britain's devaluation of Europe has led to the depreciation of the pound, and that Spain's shoes made into the UK market may also face tariffs, which make the company's situation difficult.

Britain has brought great impact to British retailers. At present, the British sides are still arguing over the European plan. The huge uncertainty has caused the economy to suffer from "agreement" or "no agreement" to get rid of Europe. Coupled with the global economic slowdown and trade protectionism escalation and other external disadvantages, the British economy has reached the end of the winter.

Britain's economic growth stalled due to the drag from Europe, the worst economic performance since 2012. According to the economic data released by the British National Statistics Department, the GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2018 was only 0.2%, compared with 0.6% in the three quarter. As the economic growth in the fourth quarter decreased significantly, the GDP growth rate in 2018 was only 1.4%, compared with the 1.8% growth rate in 2017.