180 jobs to go at furniture firm
February 25th, 2006 Category FurnitureAdministrators called in to a home furnishings company have announced 180 jobs are to go.
Sunderland-based Stag Furniture went into administration last week, with the company blaming a “severe retail downturn” for the decision.
On Friday, administrators from PriceWaterhouseCoopers said a review of the company had been completed and it had to announce 180 redundancies.
The business is continuing to trade and it is hoped a buyer will be found.
Joint administrators Ian Green and Edward Klempka conducted a detailed review of the financial position of the business and its future trading prospects.
Encouraged by interest
They said they had reluctantly made the decision about redundancies as a result of the reduced levels of customer orders since the beginning of the year.
They said with the support of the company’s remaining 372 employees, suppliers and other stakeholders, they were continuing to trade.
Mr Green said: “While it’s regrettable that we’ve had to announce theses redundancies today, it has been necessary to take this action to allow operations at the company to continue and to create a period of stability.
“We are continuing our discussions with interested parties to explore whether a sale of all or part of the business can be achieved.
“We believe this will provide the best prospect of protecting the future employment of the remaining staff.
“We are encourage by the initial levels of interest that have been expressed in the business but more time is required to determine whether this will ultimately convert into a firm offer for the business.”
Source: news.bbc.co.uk
