Poor winter weather drove UK retail sales down by 1.8% between December and January, the sharpest drop in 18 months. Because consumers decided to stay home and pay their heating bills with the old credit card instead of retailing their way out of depression, a wave of CVOs is soon expected.

KPMG UK head of restructuring, Richard Fleming told the FT ‘The March rent quarter date may be… the nail in the coffin for retailers who have not traded well over the past few months. Creditors effectively have to decide now whether to support businesses now through to the end of the year.’

JJB Sports, Blacks Leisure and Discover Leisure have all successfully obtained CVAs recently much to the chagrin of landlords who end up taking a hit on rents in order to give businesses breathing space.

Better a good tenant than an empty house…?