U.K. Stores Face Most Insolvencies Since 2008 Amid Slump: Retail

U.K. retail insolvencies may reach the highest level in four years as weak Christmas sales leave chains struggling to meet rent payments due this month, according to restructuring firm AlixPartners LLP.

“We are likely to see a number of retail collapses early in the new year and it could include some much-loved names,” Sanjay Bailur, managing director of the advisory firm’s U.K. unit, said in an interview. The outlook is “worse than the last three or four years.”