M&Co has been put into administration with Deloitte appointed as administrators. The firm’s assets were immediately bought back by the family which had built up the company. 

A total of 47 M&Co shops will close, with 218 remaining open. According to Deloitte, M&Co’s estate will be reduced from 265 to 218 stores and around 380 redundancies will be made from a total workforce of 2,600.

The firm currently employs more than 3,900 staff, with 3,500 of those based in-store and the remainder in its Inchinnan Head Office (beside Glasgow Airport), or in its London Buying Office.

Deloitte said that the firm had faced a number of difficulties and the coronavirus pandemic had amplified these issues. 

The firm has said the focus of cuts will be on UK towns and suburbs rather than in city centres.

The list of stores due to close are: 

• Greenock
• Knightswood
• Girvan
• Annan
• Linlithgow
• Gyle
• Alloa
• Inverurie Childrens (the other Inverurie store is remaining open)

Andy McGeoch, CEO of M&Co, said: “As everyone knows, retail has been one of the sectors hardest-hit by Covid-19, with long-term shop closures and social distancing having a hugely negative impact.

“Like many of the UK’s best-known High Street names, we’ve been facing up to a number of underlying business challenges in the current retail environment, which have been exacerbated by the impact of COVID-19. Being forced to close all our stores for several months meant a huge financial hit.

“We reopened most stores in June and have been exploring every possible option, but it was obvious that the business, as previously structured, would remain under severe pressure from the ongoing challenges of Covid-19. It quickly became clear that best way to save most jobs and most stores was to enter administration, with a new company acquiring the assets of the old business, and this process has now been finalised.

“It’s not a decision we took lightly, after more than 50 years of trading, but it gives us a sustainable basis from which to rebuild, with the majority of our staff keeping their jobs and 218 stores in High Streets across the country remaining open.

“The most difficult part of this process is undoubtedly seeing around 380 colleagues in stores and at our Glasgow and London operations leaving the business. It’s a terrible situation for them and I’m desperately sorry that we couldn’t come up with a viable plan which would have saved all the jobs.”