Kitchen manufacturer Moores Furniture Group, founded in 1947, has gone into administration, it was reported earlier this week.
The Wetherby, West Yorkshire-based business employed more than 450 people. James Clark and Will Wright from Interpath were appointed joint administrators, the BBC reports, adding that they said they had retained around 336 members of staff to "support the completion of some work", but had made 124 redundant.
Fellow UK kitchen retailer Wren has taken on the business' existing contracts, adding that its contract division has agreed to seek employment opportunities for a significant number of Moores sales, operations, and internal support teams.
"We were sorry to hear that Moores Furniture Group has entered into administration," states Wren. "Whilst the company was a competitor of ours, we believe it is in everyone’s interests to have a strong kitchen industry based here in the UK.
"Wren’s contracts division had been in talks with Moores and the administrators but unfortunately was unable to save the business. We have however agreed an exclusive option to provide customers affected by this situation with the ability to seamlessly transfer outstanding contracts over to us. This will ensure those customers will be able to continue their operations with absolutely no impact on price, delivery schedules or administration costs.
"Due to the unique way Wren manufacture, we will also be able to assist customers by supplying cabinets and doors in the bespoke sizes which Moores had been supplying to the market, we envisage this will help housebuilders and public sector landlords with any warranty issues they or their customers may have been having or may need to resolve in the future.
"Wren’s Contract division had recently committed to a sales office in Harrogate, and we have agreed with the administrator that we will engage immediately with Moores' management team to see if there are opportunities to provide alternative employment to a significant number of Moores' sales, operations and internal support teams."
Nick Stockley, a partner at law firm Mayo Wynne Baxter, comments: "Moores Furniture Group has gone into administration and so there will be an improved chance of providing a better return to creditors than if the company went into liquidation.
"The administrators of Moores Furniture have explored the possibility of continuing to trade the business as a going concern, but that has not been possible. As the company cannot be salvaged, the administrators have already sold some of the company’s main assets including the customer order book and intellectual property. The administrators will continue to try to sell any other business assets that remain.
"The administration process can be used in order to rescue the company, albeit on a reduced scale, however that is not possible here. The commercial leases will be terminated and the premises will be vacated sooner rather than later. Staff have already been laid off and that process will continue once the administrators have done what they can with the company’s assets. The company’s unsecured creditors are likely to go unpaid but there is a genuine prospect that the company’s customers will be unaffected and money paid in advance for products and services will not be lost."
