Floors-2-Go collapses into administration

Flooring retailer Floors-2-Go has plummeted into administration for the second time in three years. Part of the Birmingham-based company was saved by a newly-formed business, but administrators confirmed that 53 stores have closed with the loss of 192 jobs.

Administrators from Warwick-based insolvency practice Senate Recovery said it had secured a sale for the continued trading of 35 stores and the jobs of 162 employees.

Senate director Jeremy Bowden confirmed to Insider that the purchaser was Nixon & Hope, a company formed recently for the purposes of the acquisition.

Bowden added: "We have worked hard with the company, its directors, other parts of the Senate Group and an external funder to achieve this deal despite hostile economic and trading conditions. Everyone involved has worked hard to get the deal through."

However, he said that almost 200 jobs across the UK would go.
According to reports, 20 of the jobs axed were at the company's Newtown headquarters.

Floors-2-Go, which was registered under the Floor My Home brand, operated 90 stores across the country.

It is the second time in three years that the company has collapsed into administration. In 2008, Floors-2-Go was declared insolvent after a £52.4m management buyout by venture capitalist firm Alchemy Partners failed due to difficult economic conditions.

Floors-2-Go was then bought back the year later by Robert and Richard Hodges, descendants of the family which founded the business in 1999.

Reports emerged yesterday (24 August) that the company may be facing difficulties as its stores in Bilston, Oldbury and Great Barr were not trading. Stock had been cleared from the Bilston store, a national newspaper reported.

In January this year, Floors-2-Go secured a capital boost of more than £3m from investor Hotbed, which at the time it said would be used to open 60 new stores in the UK.

Source : Insider Media Limited
www.insidermedia.com/insider/midlands/57886-floors-2-go-collapses-192-job-losses/