The cabinet is prepared to offer support where possible if department store chain V&D does go bust, leaving 10,000 people without work, economic affairs minister Henk Kamp says in Thursday’s Financieele Dagblad.

There are, for example, government guarantees which can be used to support financing if the company is to be relaunched, Kamp said.

V&D was this week awarded court protection from creditors after its American owners decided not to pump any more money into the company. Kamp said it is crucial that all options are looked at for relaunching the company so that as many jobs as possible can be preserved.

He said that the economic affairs ministry is involved in ‘developments’ around V&D but declined to give further details.

Three Dutch high street groups are currently on the verge of bankruptcy: V&D, which operates 62 stores nationwide; the Macintosh retail group which runs the Scapino and Dolcis shoe shops; and the DA chemists group with 260 branches.

The shift in the retail landscape and arrival of new, innovative operations, shows ‘the sector is facing structural changes in consumer behaviour and the rapid development of online shopping’, Kamp said.