Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
More details have been released of the sale of Steamer Trading Cookshop to rival housewares retailer ProCook.
As part of the sales process, Steve Absolom and Will Wright of KPMG LLP were appointed joint administrators of Steamer Trading Limited today (January 9).
KPMG said that following their appointment, the joint administrators completed an agreement to sell 27 of Steamer Trading’s 38 stores ‘and the majority of the business and assets’ to ProCook.
The 27 Steamer Trading stores acquired by ProCook are:Bath, Beverley, Bishop’s Stortford, Brentwood, Brighton, Bristol, Bury St Edmunds, Cardiff, Chester, Chichester, Cirencester, Dorchester, Eastbourne, Guildford, Harrogate, Hereford, Horsham, Lewes, Lymington, Northallerton, Saffron Walden, Southampton, St Albans, Stamford, Thame, Truro and Witney.
KPMG added: ‘A further store – trading under the Divertimenti brand in Knightsbridge – has been acquired by Divertimenti Limited. [Steamer Trading Cookshop founder Ben Phillips has bought this store.] Both deals see 332 jobs being secured.
‘There are 10 underperforming stores which are not part of the sale and will close immediately. These closures unfortunately result in 79 job losses.’ The 10 Steamer Trading branches that will close immediately are Battle, Heathfield, Westerham, Dorking, Bluewater, Taunton, Wells, Cambridge, Glasgow and Bournemouth.
Nick Holloway, director at KPMG UK, who led the sale, commented: “We are delighted that we have been able to rescue such a long established business including a high proportion of stores and preserve a large number of jobs, especially given the current economic pressures faced by retailers across the UK. The trade sale complements the existing ProCook business and further increases their high street presence.”
Steve Absolom, restructuring partner at KPMG in the UK and joint administrator, added: “Whilst it is always pleasing to preserve a significant number of jobs, sadly a number of redundancies are to be made at the 10 closed stores. Over the coming days, our priority is to ensure all employees who have been affected by redundancy receive the information and guidance they need in order to claim monies owed from the Redundancy Payments Office.”
This Steamer Trading Cookshop branch in Beverley has been bought by ProCook
