Almost 2000 jobs will be lost at chains such as Threshers and Wine Rack, it emerged today, as the administrators to their collapsed owner First Quench said it would close hundreds of stores as part of the adminstration.

First Quench, which also owns Bottoms Up, Haddows, a Scottish chain, and The Local, went into administration on October 29, after being hit by cut-price supermarket competition.

KPMG, the adminstrators to First Quench, said today that 381 stores will close across the brands, which will result in 1908 redundancies in those stores that are closing and 34 at the head office in Welwyn Garden City.

The latest store closures are in addition to the 373 shops KPMG said earlier this month would be closing, with the loss of 1738 jobs. The administrators had previously announced 81 job cuts at the firm’s head office.

Source: Times Online

Total losses = 1908

Sandcity who own O’Neill have gone into administration with a potential loss of 90+ staff at the 11 stores around the country. Administrators KPMG have been brought in and they are going to try and find a buyer for the ailing company.   Sandcity is actually owned by the clothing company Black Leisure.

Blacks decided there was “no reasonable prospect” of restoring loss-making Sandcity – the subsidiary which owns the stores – to profit.

Potential job loss = 90

Lingerie maker Intimas has brought in the administrators after a long spell of poor trading in the Economic Downturn. The Derbyshire-based business has called in PricewaterhouseCoopers to sell the company as a going concern and protect its 200-odd employees’ positions. The administrators are to review the business and the sale options for Intimas and its main brands. Intimas reported £1.65m of losses in the first half of 2008, due to declining sales.

Intimas specialises in designing women’s lingerie and swimwear. It also manufactures brand goods for labels including Ted Baker, Lepel and Charnos, as well as collections for retailers on the high street.  Intimas signed a three-year contract to make products for Caprice Lingerie, in 2006.

Stuart Maddison, joint administrator at PricewaterhouseCoopers, believes that the sale will attract plenty of interest.

Source: Hanna Lahabib at Business Sales Report

Mica is a voluntary trading group, which allows its members, independent hardware shops, to compete with larger rivals such as B&Q. The group is owned by the independent hardware store operators, according to the company’s website. The group has over 160 member stores in the UK. The retailers also purchase their stocks through Mica.

Leonard Curtis has been appointed as administrators to the group, and has taken over the warehouse and stock.

The business is to continue to trade under the name of Mica DIY. A long-term supplier to the hardware business Stax Trade Centres is to take over the Vault as Mica’s wholesaler.

Source: Rob Moore

Three main subsidiaries of coffee chain Coffee Republic, Coffee Republic Franchising and Goodbean have been placed into administration after suffering from decreasing consumer spending.

Richard Hill and David Crawshaw of KPMG have been hired as joint administrators. Mr Hill has received a substantial amount of interest, partly from well-known companies. The administrators aim to sell the businesses as going concerns as quickly as possible. Underperforming stores will be shut down and redundancies will be made.

It was only in December that the company announced it had cleared its bank debts of £3.3 million, and was expecting to become cash flow positive by April 2009.  Trading in the UK had apparently become stable, though it would be more cautious with its expansion plans.  The cafe chain had 184 stores in Britain at the end of last year, 114 of which were concessions, 51 were franchises and the company ran 19.

Coffee Republic was established by brother and sister team Bobby and Sahar Hashemi in 1995. The company failed in its attempt to keep up with now larger competitors such as Starbucks and Costas. Its overly ambitious expansion meant that it has struggled to reach profitability.

The holding company Coffee Republic plc has not been taken into administration.
Source: By Caroline Clayfield

Forget the fact that four of his restaurants have gone into administration. Why has he got four restuarants in the first place? Why not run two and ensure they are doing well and then open another one or two when the others are firmly grounded? Businesses go into administration for a reason, because they are badly managed, can’t pay the bills, are most likely running at a loss. Dah…

Just because it’s been the cool thing in the past to cook up masses of debt, doesn’t mean it’s right Mr Celebrity. I think AWT has been a bit greedy and now it’s come back to bite him on the arse. Yes the banks have been at fault as well, but 4 wrongs don’t make a right.

AWT said: It makes me cry. It is just appalling. I am furious, to be honest, that the banks didn’t support me.

Stop winging about your losses. Think about those poor staff that you have made redundant. They should be the ones crying.

Job losses = Unknown

For every company that has gone into administration in the past year and a half, almost all of them have been handled by one of the big four names above and looking at their revenue for 2008 I bet many of them are looking forward to bonus time, unlike the rest of the global market. We will bring you more companies doing well on the backs of copanies doing badly.

Related Web Links:

• KMPG
• Deloitte
• PriceWaterhouseCoopers
• Ernst & Young

Quoted from Reuters

Passion for Perfume became Britain’s latest victim of the consumer downturn on Monday, appointing administrators (Deloitte) and making 194 staff redundant.

Job losses: 194

Related Web Links:

• Business Credit Management
• International Herald Tribune