Dutch high street staple V&D has applied for court protection from its creditors after its owner, a US investment company, pulled the plug.

V&D, founded in 1887, has been in financial difficulty for some time and this has been made worse by the warm weather in November and December, plus a ‘number of incidents and unforeseen situations’, the company said in a statement.

‘The group’s shareholder and financier was, unfortunately, no longer prepared to cover this shortage of liquidity and continue the existing financing,’ the statement said.

Earlier this year V&D tried to reduce staff wages by 5.8% in an effort to get its finances back on track. That move was rejected in court. However, V&D did reduce its workforce by 400 jobs and forced its landlords to accept lower rents.

Sun Capital bought V&D in 2010 from US private equity group KKR, which broke up the successful Vendex retail group and sold off its various parts.

V&D has not made a profit since then, racking up a loss of €49m in 2014 on sales of €604m. Sun Capital has propped up the company several times with extra cash, doing so again in July when the company’s banks pulled out.

10,000 workers

V&D has 62 stores nationwide and a workforce of 10,000.

All the stores and the La Place restaurants will remain open while the official receivers look at the options, the company said.

However, dozens of people who were given a V&D gift certificate as part of a corporate Christmas present have been told they may not be redeemed. Nor are the stores accepting any returns and the webshop has been taken off line.

According to RTL news, unions say extra security staff have been drafted in to deal with angry customers.