Bathstore Faces Potential Administration

Sky News and The Guardian have both reported that Bathstore, the UK's largest specialist bathroom retailer, is close to appointing administrators.

Both state that accountancy firm BDO has been lined up to handle the potential administration process, with Sky News stating that a notice of intention to appoint administrators is likely to be filed next week.

The Guardian reports that Bathstore's owner - a US investment company - is not prepared to invest more money into the business ahead of this month's rent day.

At the time of writing, BDO had not commented on the matter.  It is understood that Bathstore could not be reached for comment.

Bathstore has been communicating with customers on its Twitter account until around 9am this morning, but there have been no posts since.

Bathstore currently operates around 168 stores and is thought to employ around 700 members of staff. 

Filings at Companies House show that both Bathstore Group Ltd and Bathstore.com both extended their accounting periods in April 2019.

In May 2018, Ian Herrett replaced Gary Favell as CEO, after he stepped down after nearly six years at the helm.

In December 2018, it was reported by Sky News that TPG – the investment company that owns bathroom retailer Victoria Plum – was in discussion with Stephens Inc. – the owner of Bathstore – over a potential sale or merger of the two businesses. 

We will update this story as we hear more.

Source: Insight DIY Team

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