A third Dutch high street group has been given court protection from its creditors this week, the Financieele Dagblad says on Wednesday.

The DA Retailgroup is the holding company of the DA chemists’ chain which operates some 260 stores, mainly franchise operations, nationwide. Some 210 people work at the holding’s headquarters.

The shops will remain open and the franchise operations do not fall under the agreement, the FD says.

Last year independent chemists sounded the alarm because sales are under pressure from major chains such as Kruitvat and Etos, which is part of the Ahold retail group, the paper says.

Earlier on Wednesday, it emerged that the V&D department store group is also now under court protection from creditors. On Tuesday, Macintosh, which runs the Scapino, Dolcis and Manfield shoe shops, made a similar application.