Carpetright bought in rescue deal but more than 1,000 jobs cut

Carpetright has been bought in a rescue deal by rival Tapi, but will shut more than 200 stores and cut more than 1,000 jobs.

Flooring retailer Tapi has agreed to buy the Carpetright brand, intellectual property, 54 stores and two warehouses in a pre-pack administration deal.

Administrators at PwC said the deal will save more than 308 current jobs at Carpetright.

However, the deal will not save the majority of the business, including its head office in Purfleet, Essex.

Carpetright, which is owned by Nestware Holdings, filed a notice to appoint administrators earlier this month, after struggling in the face of weaker demand and a major cyber attack in April.

The company employed 1,852 people and operated 273 stores across the UK before entering insolvency.

Administrators said it will retain workers at its head office for the short term as it winds down operations.

However, it said 1,018 workers will face immediate redundancy across its stores which were not part of the rescue deal.

Zel Hussain, joint administrator at PwC, said: “The sale of some stores and the brand to Tapi has allowed over 300 jobs to be saved, and gives the Carpetright brand the chance to continue and flourish under its new ownership.

“However, it is deeply saddening that for the remainder of the workforce there will be redundancies.

“We are committed to helping those affected and will make sure redundancy claims are processed as quickly as possible.”

The administrators said orders made at stores now set for closure “are unable to be fulfilled” recommended customers to contact their card provider in order to potentially secure a refund.

Tapi was founded in 2015 by Lord Harris of Peckham, who also founded Carpetright. He sold all his stock in Carpetright in 2014.

Tapi has grown rapidly in recent years and runs about 175 shops across the UK.

Jeevan Karir, managing director of Tapi Carpets & Floors, said: “Our goal, initially, was to try to save all of Carpetright.

“However, as we looked into the details of the situation, we quickly established that saving the entire business was unviable.”

Mr Karir added that Tapi was “mindful of how the competition authorities would look at any deal” when assessing how many stores it could save through a rescue deal.

Nestware chief executive Kevin Barrett said: “Our focus over the last week has been to secure external investment to ensure job security for a number of our Carpetright colleagues up and down the country.

“Whilst we succeeded in finding a buyer, the deal is limited to a select number of stores rather than the business as a whole and will sadly impact a large number of colleagues and staff.

“We have tried everything to turn Carpetright around and I’m truly sorry that we were unable to save more jobs.”

Recently, Carpetright has suffered from weaker demand for carpets as homeowners shifted towards hard flooring, as well as a major cyber attack in April which halted trading.

It said earlier this month that the cyber attack’s impact on sales affected efforts by the company to restructure its operations in recent months.