Poundzone stores in adminstration
Discount retail chain to be broken up
RSW Group, operator of the Poundzone discount chain, has gone into administration.
David Costley-Wood and Ian Green of PricewaterhouseCoopers have been appointed joint administrators of RSW as well as two of its subsidiaries, Max Value and H2F, both of which trade as Poundzone.
The Manchester-based business employs around 75 staff at its head oofice, with the 27 stores throughout the North of England, employing another 220.
RSW said the Poundzone stores, acquired in July 2003, have since not performed as envisaged, which “along with difficult market conditions in discount retailing as a whole”, has resulted in the appointment of administrators.
Eleven of 27 stores will close immediately, resulting in a number of redundancies, with the other 16 staying open while a buyer is sought.
Wholsale subsidiary, RSW International is not affected by the administration, and has been sold to RSW (Imports).
Costley-Wood of PricewaterhouseCoopers, said: “We are delighted to be able to conclude the sale of RSW International which provides certainty for some employees and ensures continuity of service to customers and clients.
“Going forward, our immediate strategy for the retail business is to continue trading 16 stores whilst we seek a buyer for the business. Ongoing costs mean that it is not viable to continue trading all the stores and unfortunately this means that some redundancies were inevitable.”
