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5 NEWS 3.12.2020 18 per cent increase in November property sales as industry remains buoyant PAUL COCKS THE two Debenhams stores in Malta will continue operating following con- firmation that chain's shops in the UK will be closing down. Debenhams UK announced on Tues- day that, following a breakdown in talks for its takeover, it will cease operations and go into liquidation by Q1 2021. In a company announcement, United Finance p.l.c its sister company, Unit- ed Department Stores Limited, which holds the franchise for the Debanhams Brand for Malta, said that the stores in Malta are operated independently from the UK under a franchise agreement. Nonetheless operations are intrinsi- cally tied to the UK Company for the supply of merchandise and the winding up of the UK Company will therefore affect the availability of product for sale. "At this stage executive management are monitoring the developments in the UK closely and are assessing options in hand for the replacement of the Deben- hams franchise," United Finance p.l.c. said in its statement. "For the immedi- ate future local trading operations will continue as normal in both stores, one at the Point and the other at Mainstreet Paola." e company said that although 2020 was a challenging year, it had sufficient resources to meet all of its obligations when they fall due. Its Board of Direc- tors will remain vigilant on the develop- ments with a view of taking more meas- ures as may be appropriate to ensure the viability of the company and the group. All of Debenhams' 12,000 employees in the UK are likely to lose their jobs when the chain's 124 shops cease trad- ing. News of the chain's closure came just hours after Topshop owner Arcadia fell into administration, putting another 13,000 jobs at risk. Debenhams itself had been in admin- istration since April, but all hopes of a rescue were crushed after the last re- maining bidder, JD Sports, withdrew on Tuesday. Staff were told the news on Tuesday morning. Malta Debenhams stores to remain open following UK chain's collapse THE Malta Developers Asso- ciation has welcomed more successful results obtained by the industry as sales in the property sector in November were 18 per cent better than the same month of 2019. Despite the economic un- certainty spurred by the consequences of the global pandemic, preliminary data shows that 1,245 promises of sale were officially registered last November, a signifi- cant increase over the same month of 2019. e value of property sales registered last month, reached €274 million, an in- crease of €41 million on No- vember 2019. In terms of value the in- crease was also 18%. Despite these positive re- sults, the MDA also notes that November 2020 reg- istered lower turnover in promises of sales and prop- erty value when compared to the same month in both 2017 and 2018. MDA President Sandro Chetcuti said that, while en- couraging, the results high- light the need for more effort to ensure the economy can continue to resist the current recession. He said that while the sec- tor and the economy as a whole were still facing tough problems, the positive news that a vaccine is on the verge of being rolled-out instils trust that the page will soon be turned. Chetcuti said the MDA was convinced that through hard work and with the right incentives, 2021 could be a much better year for the in- dustry.

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