Iceland store closures to cost 160 jobs

Frozen food retailer, Iceland, is to shut all its Irish stores with the loss of up to 160 jobs, the company confirmed today.

The outlets are due to close by the end of the week but it is understood staff were only informed of the development in the last 24 hours.

Following sustained substantial losses, the firm said six shops in Dublin and one outlet in Letterkenny, Donegal would close by the end of the week.

Iceland said it could no longer cope with losing so much money and could see no sign of a recovery.

“Following the takeover of Iceland Frozen Foods in February, the business was found to be in a very poor state financially and also losing a substantial amount of money,” the company said in a statement.

“We have spent six months looking at it and have come to the conclusion that it is not possible for us to turn this around," a spokeswoman added.

Management are currently trying to find a buyer for the whole or part of the business. They also stressed they were looking at a number of options to secure jobs for as many employees as possible.

In February, Iceland was bought by the Baugar investment group, the UK’s fifth-largest food retailer, which has already laid off a quarter of the company’s British-based staff.