UP to 15 national retail chains are predicted to go bust before the middle of January, forcing thousands more shopworkers onto the dole.

The prediction came from insolvency expert Begbies Traynor as well-known retail chains clamour to sell enough goods to meet their quarterly rent payments on Christmas Day. Nick Hood, partner at Begbies Traynor, said: “I would not be surprised if between 10 and 15 national and regional chains collapsed before the middle of January.”

Hood refused to name specific store groups, but this weekend it emerged that The Officers Club, a 150-strong national menswear chain, had been put up for distressed sale through KPMG, while the specialist tea retailer, Whittards, and music store Zavvi remained on the critical list.

According to the accountancy firm Price Waterhouse Coopers, if only 10% of national retailers get into financial difficulty in the next 12 months, that would bring about 4,000 empty shop units onto the market.

Rupert Eastell, head of retail at BDO Stoy Hayward, said: “From tomorrow until mid-January, it’s going to be the worst three weeks for retailers in 20 years.”

A slew of high-profile names have already gone under this year, including Woolworths, MFI, SCS, Dolcis, MK One and Rosebys. Suppliers to big-name retailers are also facing collapse.

House of Fraser has written to 200 of its suppliers asking them to be honest if they run into financial difficulties. It has already extended the offer of financial support to some stricken suppliers.

Leading shops have engaged in unprecedented levels of discounting to woo shoppers in the run-up to Christmas, but sales have continued to plunge.

Leading British retail executives admitted privately this weekend that sales were down by between 10% and 30% on a year ago, and even a last-minute rush of shoppers would be too little, too late, to save their Christmas.

Derek Lovelock, boss of Mosaic, the retail group that owns the women’s fashion chains Karen Millen, Coast and Warehouse, said: “It is the worst run-up to Christmas I have ever experienced. The likelihood is that there is too little time left for the majority of retailers to make up the shortfall from the past two months.”

City analysts said that after Christmas there would be a rash of profit warnings and downgrades from retailers whose shares are listed on the stock market.

Nick Bubb, analyst at Pali International, said: “In January, there will be big downgrades and soon retailers will start to lose money.

“The scale of the crisis will have an impact on consumer confidence. The sobering thing is that this downturn has only just begun. We have another two years of this.” Marks & Spencer is rumoured to be among the many high-street chains having a torrid time, with sales thought to be sharply down despite heavy pre-Christmas discounting.

Analysts have already slashed their profit forecasts for M&S, but the City believes the group will still be lucky to avoid a profit warning or a big profit downgrade.

The news came as Britain’s biggest sportswear chain, JJB, insisted that it had excellent relationships with its suppliers, despite speculation earlier in the week that it was late with payments to Nike.

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