Beales, one of UK's oldest department stores, falls into administration

Beales, one of the UK’s oldest department stores, has fallen into
administration, putting over 1,000 jobs at risk.

The department store, which began trading in Bournemouth in 1881,
appointed accountancy firm KPMG as administrators on Monday after it failed to find a buyer or additional funding.

The chain’s 23 stores will continue to trade and there will be no
immediate redundancies, according to KPMG, though the department store’s
website has gone offline.

KPMG said in a statement: “Despite interest from a number of parties,
this process did not secure any solvent solutions for the company, and
as a result, the directors took the difficult decision to place the
companies into administration.”

For the year to March 2019, the department store chain reported a
widening loss of 3.1 million pounds, up from 1.3 million pounds the
previous year.

Joint administrator from KPMG, Will Wright, said: “With the impact
of high rents and rates exacerbated by disappointing trading over the
Christmas period, and extensive discussions around additional investment
proving unsuccessful, there were no other available options but to
place the company into administration.

“Over the coming weeks, we will endeavour to continue to operate all
stores as a going concern while we assess options for the business,
including dealing with prospective interested parties.”

Beales currently has stores in the following towns and cities:

Photo credit: Beales, Facebook