UK shoe retailer Barratts in administration again

LONDON (Reuters) - British footwear retailer Barratts Shoes has fallen into administration, a form of bankruptcy protection, for the third time in four years, blaming tough trading conditions and a failure to secure a capital injection.

Duff & Phelps, the financial advisory and investment banking firm, said on Monday it had been appointed as administrator to Barratts, which operates from 75 stores and 23 concessions across the UK, employing 1,035.

"The company had recently received an offer from an investor to inject 5 million pounds... but that offer was withdrawn on the evening of November 8," it said, adding it was reviewing Barratts' financial position whilst seeking a going concern sale of the business.

"At this stage redundancies and/or store closures cannot be ruled out."

Barratts last went into administration in December 2011, when it traded from 191 stores and 371 concessions. A slimmed down firm was acquired by its management in the following month.

Last month Blockbuster's chain of film and computer game rental shops in Britain was set to go into administration for the second time in 10 months after its private equity owner failed to turn the business around.

(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Neil Maidment)