Furniture store Land of Leather went into administration this afternoon, placing 850 jobs at risk.
Shares in the company were also suspended as it tackled a financial crisis. Accountants Deloitte, appointed administrators, will attempt to find a buyer for 109 stores, including branches in Wednesbury and Cannock.
Land of Leather said today it had requested the suspension of its shares “pending clarification of the company’s financial position”.
Sources have suggested that the retail chain is free of debt, but needs emergency working capital in order to keep trading.
Last week rival chain Sofa Workshop said it had begun moves to appoint administrators. Land of Leather saw its sales plunge 47 per cent in the three months to the beginning of November.
The chain opened its first store in 1997 with the aim of bringing affordable leather sofas to the mass market. The firm floated in 2005 and its shares reached as high as 357p in January 2007. But they were suspended at less than 3p today – valuing the entire company at just £1.06 million.
Land of Leather on Wolverhampton’s Peel Retail Park, in Stafford Street, closed months ago. Outlets were continuing to trade today at Wednesbury’s Axletree Way and near Cannock’s Longford Island.
* Meanwhile administrators at struggling Waterford Wedgwood confirmed today that 367 workers have lost their jobs.
10 Comments
About time, the staff there are so rude it hurts, I hope they really suffer in finding a new job
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People are going to be pretty wary about leaving cash deposits for stuff now…
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You are a lovely man Mr Baker. I pray that God blesses you with some manners and feelings.
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I would hope that Trevor Baker finds himself out of work very soon, and then finds it hard to get another job… God does work in mysterious way
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The staff have to deal with people like you…no wonder they’re rude!
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Well said everyone (except TLB). Good luck to all the employees.
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land of leather wasnt on the peel centre it was think furniture and we are still trading in shrewsbury
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Not suprised at all. Its like dfs has more sales than enough. They tell you they have drooped the price of a suite by £500 and what a deal for you 4 years interest free credit-wow ,and they are still making a profit. These places deserve to go and the rest like them.
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TLB - Please will you share with us what shops you use? You seem to live in a retail eutopia - no rude staff, no stupid staff. Please share, I want to shop their too!
Did you get sacked from one of these stores and your just a little bitter? Did you get turned down for a job at Poundland? That might explain a lot.
As a country, we should be doing everything we can to support these people. They didn’t ask to be made redundant and should the same thing happen to you, you best hope there’s a more sympathetic person looking at your application form!
You disgust me!
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Let’s just all be grateful that there are not too many TLB’s in this world.
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