1,800 jobs are at risk as retail giant Carpetright has filed a notice to appoint administrators. The company has been struggling with a slump in sales and in April it appointed Teneo to explore cost-saving measures.
Earlier this week, it was reported that the chain had asked advisers at PwC to launch a formal sale process. Sources told The Times the sale was likely to be completed through a pre-pack deal or company voluntary arrangement.
Filing a notice of intent to appoint an administrator is a move retailers can make to prevent the company from going bust. This means it could potentially be saved.
Carpetright has 270 stores nationwide and over 1,800 employees and just last month it revealed it was looking to axe more than 25% of its head office staff, putting around 70 jobs at risk. The job cuts were across IT, warehousing and distribution with the retailer saying the move would reduce costs by around £22million.
In 2018 Carpetright restricted and closed 92 of its stores.
In 2019, Bosses at Carpetright formally agreed terms to sell the business to its biggest shareholder Meditor in a deal that then valued the floor specialist at £15.2 million.
The retailer at the time had debts of about £56 million and said it needed about £80 million to both pay off debts and give it sufficient cash to grow the business.
Meditor became one of Carpetright’s lenders when it took over a pile of loans from NatWest and AIB. The retailer, founded by Lord Harris of Peckham in 1988, was taken off the stock market by Meditor. The Harris family became one of Carpetright’s biggest rivals as son Martin Harris launched flooring retailer Tapi.