Fears for 850 jobs as Land of Leather in administration
The company — which has 11 stores in the Republic, employing 84 people — announced the appointment of Deloitte as administrator, yesterday. In a recent trading update, Land of Leather said while it was debt-free and had been making “significant progress” on reducing costs and conserving cash — market conditions have remained challenging and its post-Christmas sale has been “very disappointing.” Results for its last full financial year — to the beginning of August — detailed a fall in pre-tax profits from £18.5m (€20.5m) to just £2.3m (€2.5m) and an £8m (€8,8m) slip in revenue to £232m (€257m).
A spokesperson for Deloitte said the aim was to keep the firm operating, while efforts to find a buyer continued. Trading in the company’s shares, in London, was suspended yesterday with the stock at a price of £2.25 (€2.49).
Last month, the retailer said it had received “a number of unsolicited early stage expressions of interest from third parties”. However, it added — days later — that it ceased to be in an offer period after terminating talks with potential bidders — due to management believing that discussions represented “insufficient value to shareholders”.
Lee Manning — one of the two relevant administrators — said customers still awaiting orders are not in danger of losing money: “The administrators are working closely with the management to protect the interests of customers who have paid deposits on furniture orders. We have taken a number of steps both to protect customers and to inform them of how the administration affects their circumstances.”
“Where customers have been given a scheduled delivery date or have been advised that goods are awaiting payment of the balance before delivery can be made, these deliveries and orders will all be fulfilled.” All customers who have paid a deposits since December 26 are fully protected, he said.
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