JJB Sports plc has been the first listed UK company to use a CVA successfully. They have announced that 99% of the retailer’s unsecured creditors had approved a company voluntary arrangement which will facilitate a restructuring of JJB’s business. It is believed that the restructuring will protect around 12,000 jobs by allowing JJB to survive as a corporate entity, while implementing a managed store closure programme.
This CVA is the first of this scale to pass without challenge or opposition from landlords who appear to have been persuaded by the fact the CVA provides for landlords to receive around £10,000,000 (or six months rent) and the landlords will accept rent on a monthly, rather than a quarterly basis.
