Jacques Vert pulls back from brink of bankruptcy

Jacques Vert pulls back from brink of bankruptcy

Jacques Vert, the troubled fashion group, pulled itself back from the brink of bankruptcy yesterday after announcing new financing and a wide- ranging shake up of its business. Bob Reid, the chairman, admitted the shake-up would lead to "substantial redundancies" among 900 staff.

Losses ballooned from pounds 5m to pounds 9.5m for the year to May. Littlewoods, which owns a 29.9-per-cent stake, is providing a pounds 500,000 loan and Midland Bank has increased its overdraft facility to pounds 8m. Jacques Vert is selling Grace Collection to a management buy-in team for pounds 1.6m. But the group has been forced to close the rest of the wholesale division. Problems stem from a decision to create trendier clothing ranges designed to appeal to a younger customers. The experiment flopped and the group has introduced new ranges to cater for the more mature, affluent woman.