Peacocks on the brink

Peacocks, the debt-laden discount clothing retailer, is likely to file notice of intention to appoint administrators later today, leaving up to 11,000 jobs hanging by a thread.

The fashion group, which has £240 million of net debt and also owns the Bonmarché chain, could become the retail sector's biggest chain to collapse since the closure of Woolworths saw 30,000 job losses in January 2009.

However, Peacocks is expected to sell Bonmarché at a knockdown price of less than £10 million to the private-equity firm Sun European Partners possibly through a pre-packaged administration, which will save many of the 394-store chain's 2000 staff.

By filing the administration notice to appoint KPMG, Peacocks, which has 611 shops and 9000 staff, will give itself 10 working days to find new investment.

Barclays, which remains supportive of management's attempts to restructure Peacocks, and Royal Bank of Scotland own about 18% each of the retailer's total debt.

RBS said: "New investors willing to inject sufficient capital could not be found."