Carpetright had debts to suppliers, customers and landlords of £80m when it collapsed.
The Times reported that about £24m was owed to suppliers by the flooring and beds chain; £30.9m to ‘other creditors’ including customers; and other debts totalled £15.6m. Liabilities stood at around £81.7m. These figures are expected to be confirmed when administrator PwC communicates with creditors, as soon as 29 July.
Tapi has taken on 54 of Carpetright’s stores and struck a deal with former parent company Nestware for intellectual property, including the Carpetright and Harris Carpets brands.
The 54 branches employ 308 staff.
The remaining 218 branches (including concessions) will not reopen and Carpetright’s head office will close once operations are wound down.
1,018 jobs will be lost.
Tapi is funding a service that will offer free employment workshops covering CV preparation, interview skills and job search strategies to Carpetright staff.
Staff are reported to not have been paid for June and July.
Tapi has told customers with outstanding orders at the branches it has taken on who paid by cash or debit card that it will honour deposits, but those that paid by credit card or finance must seek a Section 75 refund and then place a new order. Those that have outstanding orders at now-closed stores will become unsecured creditors unless they obtain a Section 75.
Fitters have been told they will also be treated as creditors. PwC was due to publish details on how creditors can make a claim on its website by 29 July.
In December, Carpetright’s intellectual property, including the brand of John Lewis’s flooring concessions operator The Flooring Room, was transferred to Nestware.
PwC was called in by the group to handle Carpetright’s sale before it was appointed administrator. The chain had been hit by a cyber attack in April which had left it unable to place consumer orders, effectively bringing forward the decision to move to the administration process.
Talal Shakerchi, an internationally successful poker player, took ownership of the flooring chain in 2019. Carptright turned to him to secure emergency funding through his venture capital company Meditor, before it bought the chain’s £30m bank debt and became its largest shareholder. Shareholders were then faced with little choice but to accept its below stock-market valuation offer of £15m which saw Meditor take full control.
This Spring saw Teneo hired in an effort to cut costs. It presented a package that would save £22m a year by cutting 70 staff across head office, IT, warehousing and field management.
IMAGE: HMedits2020
