A lawyer for the company told the High Court that examinership was its “only means of survival” amid ongoing financial losses due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Kelley Smith BL said landlords opposing examinership instead wanted the company to “keep going” until it reached the “precipice.”Mr Justice Denis McDonald reserved judgement on whether to confirm the appointment of an examiner to New Look Retailers (Ireland) Limited, which operates 27 stores. Mr Fanning had said the company’s evidence was “speculative” but Ms Smith said with the pandemic, it was an “unprecedented retail environment” and there had to be some looking forward. The opposing landlords “feared” market rent, she said; they wanted the company to “gamble” and “just keep going." “Even with the benefit of the EWSS, insolvency is on the horizon and the only means of ensuring survival is for the court to grant protection in the form of examinership,” Ms Smith said.

Source: Irish Independent September 30, 2020 13:29 UTC