Business News
Furniture firm hits £8.8m loss
FURNITURE and bed firm Woodbridge
Bedroom and Furniture
Superstores has gone into administration.
The company, which has outlets
in Shildon and Bishop Auckland,
in County Durham, and in
Sunderland, called in administrators
after hitting financial difficulty.
The search for a buyer
had started last night.
The Sunderland store has
closed, but the County Durham
stores remain open.
The announcement came hours
after furniture retailer SCS revealed
it had made half-year losses
of £8.8m, and said it is "under
no illusions" that the market
would ease.
Ian Kings, from Woodbridge
administrator Tenon Recovery,
said: "The company has suffered
from the general downturn in the
sector and from the effects of the
credit crunch.
"The Sunderland shop has the
highest cost base and has therefore
been closed. Bishop Auckland
and Shildon continue to
trade while a buyer is sought."
The revelation came as Sunderland-
based SCS revealed its
decline, and said that while it remains
confident of a better second
half, the 13 per cent drop in
revenue to £91.8m and loss of
£8.8m - down from £3.3m profit
last year - were indicative of the
challenging economic situation.
SCS said its expansion and refurbishment
programme would
continue to be on hold.
Like-for-like sales in the six
months to January 26 were also
down 15 per cent.
Chairman Mike Browne said:
"While we remain confident of a
profitable second half, we will
continue to manage the business
on the basis that we are unlikely
to see any upturn for some time."
8:51am Thursday 27th March 2008
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