Land of Leather has this week received 14 expressions of interest for its business and stores after the furniture retailer collapsed into administration on Monday.
It is understood that Land of Leatherâs existing management are among those to have expressed interest, along with private equity firms such as Hilco. Sun European, parent to rival ScS, was eyeing the business late last year but is no longer interested.
Land of Leatherâs previous chief executive Paul Briant, who left the chain in August, is also understood to have been interested in reviving the chain as a scaled down operation, but it was unclear as Retail Week went to press whether this is still the case.
Deloitte joint administrator Lee Manning said: âWeâre down to the very serious players. I suspect a purchaser wonât take up all of the stores, so there would be some redundancies.â
Land of Leather collapsed after it failed to raise additional funds and suffered a dire start to its Boxing Day Sale. It needed to hitÂŁ39m in revenue during the Sale to survive, but after three days it became clear it would only bring in betweenÂŁ25m andÂŁ26m.
Last year Land of Leather tookÂŁ54m in its Boxing Day Sale, meaning it was down around 50 per cent on a like-for-like basis.
The retailer, which is debt free, requested a loan of aboutÂŁ10m from its lenders on January 8 to see it through the next 18 months. This was refused on Monday.
Of the 109 stores, which employ 1,060 staff, around 30 per cent are unprofitable.
The retailer successfully negotiated more favourable terms on its rent bills with 75 per cent of its landlords, but up to 12 landlords sent in bailiffs as a precaution. âOnce one or two broke ranks this trickle turned into a flow,â said Manning.
Separately, Leonard Curtis is still on standby for a possible administration of 30-store retailer Sofa Workshop. Flooring specialist Allied Carpets has held preliminary talks with restructuring specialist Hilco over a potential sale.
Land of Leatherâs previous chief executive Paul Briant, who left the chain in August, is also understood to have been interested in reviving the chain as a scaled down operation, but it was unclear as Retail Week went to press whether this is still the case.
Deloitte joint administrator Lee Manning said: âWeâre down to the very serious players. I suspect a purchaser wonât take up all of the stores, so there would be some redundancies.â
Land of Leather collapsed after it failed to raise additional funds and suffered a dire start to its Boxing Day Sale. It needed to hitÂŁ39m in revenue during the Sale to survive, but after three days it became clear it would only bring in betweenÂŁ25m andÂŁ26m.
Last year Land of Leather tookÂŁ54m in its Boxing Day Sale, meaning it was down around 50 per cent on a like-for-like basis.
The retailer, which is debt free, requested a loan of aboutÂŁ10m from its lenders on January 8 to see it through the next 18 months. This was refused on Monday.
Of the 109 stores, which employ 1,060 staff, around 30 per cent are unprofitable.
The retailer successfully negotiated more favourable terms on its rent bills with 75 per cent of its landlords, but up to 12 landlords sent in bailiffs as a precaution. âOnce one or two broke ranks this trickle turned into a flow,â said Manning.
Separately, Leonard Curtis is still on standby for a possible administration of 30-store retailer Sofa Workshop. Flooring specialist Allied Carpets has held preliminary talks with restructuring specialist Hilco over a potential sale.
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