Zavvi management table bid for business

In an email to staff on Tuesday, seen by Retail Week, chief executive Simon Douglas revealed that he, along with commercial director Mark Noonan and an external third party, has made an offer to administrator Ernst & Young to take on parts of the remaining business.

Douglas said he expects negotiations to conclude “soon”, and that further announcements would be made to stores in the “next couple of weeks”.

In the email, Douglas told remaining employees that he and Noonan had resigned from the company as they sought to put together a deal to save the business.

Douglas said that it was with “much regret” that they were “formally stepping back from the day-to-day running of the business”.

He wrote: “The decision has not been taken lightly but, because of what I intend to do, it is the right decision.”

He added: “I’m delighted to inform you that Mark Noonan and I, in conjunction with an external third party, have made a formal offer to Ernst & Young for parts of the remain-ing business.”

He went on to say: “To have [Zavvi] taken away from us is incredibly sad and frustrating. But I am not one for lying down and sulking, so I intend to have another go.”

Zavvi hit the buffers on December 24 as it was paralysed by a lack of stock – the result of the collapse of EUK, Woolworths’ entertainment arm.

There are 48 UK Zavvi stores still trading after Ernst & Young sold nine to rival HMV (as well as five in Ireland) and closed 55, resulting in more than 800 redundancies. A further 69 employees lost their jobs shortly after Zavvi fell into administration.

Douglas declined to comment.