A MAJOR home improvement brand is to close 56 stores after falling into administration.
Tile supplier CTD Tiles has struck a rescue deal with rival brand Topps Tiles after it collapsed.
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Major home improvement brand to close 56 stores after falling into administrationCredit: Paul Doyle
The Newcastle-based brand will close a total of 56 sites and cut 268 jobs, administrators said.
It had 86 stores across the UK and employed 425 staff.
CTD filed for bankruptcy on Monday after coming under pressure from a downturn in the home improvement sector.
Administrators from Interpath Advisory said rival Topps had struck a £9m deal to buy CTD’s brands, intellectual property, stock, 30 stores and management of distribution sites in Leeds and Kings Norton.
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Affiliated brands include CTD Tiles, CTD Trade and CTD Architectural Tiles, with combined annual revenues of around £75m.
It is understood 92 employees will move to Topps, with administrators saying they will also retain a further 65 to deal with the transition of the administrative process.
However, they confirmed that the remaining 56 stores have now closed, leading to the “regrettable” decision to make 268 workers redundant.
The acquired stores and other assets will continue to trade under the CTD brand.
James Lumb, managing director at Interpath Advisory and joint administrator of CTD Tiles, said: “CTD Tiles is a major player in the industry, but market conditions have proved insurmountable as consumer and trade demand has failed to recover as expected.
“The transaction with the Topps Group provides continuity for a significant number of staff and stores as part of a large tile group.”
The giant Carpetright is surviving
Mr Lumb said the company was focused on supporting those staff and had specialist teams on site working with employees to help make representations to Severance Services where relevant.
Rob Parker, CEO of Topps Group, said: “The CTD brand and assets are an excellent fit with our existing business and the acquisition creates a new and complementary specialist tile business within the Topps Group.
“CTD operates a different model than our existing Topps Tiles retail stores, with separate merchandising and retail offerings within each unit and numerous market-specific sub-brands that are distinct from our existing offerings.”
Here is the full list of CTD Tiles stores that have closed:
- Aintree
- Ashford
- Aylesbury
- Basildon
- Blackpool
- Bolton
- Brierley Hill
- Cambridge (Central)
- Canterbury
- Carlisle
- Chelmsford
- Chester
- 13. Colchester
- Coventry
- Cricklewood
- Croydon
- Denton
- Derby (Ascot Drive)
- Dundee
- Eastbourne
- Exeter
- Falkirk
- Gateshead
- Glasgow (Helen Street)
- Hanwell
- Harlow
- Huddersfield
- Ipswich
- Kilmarnock
- King’s Lynn
- Leeds
- Lincoln
- Livingston
- Maidstone
- Newcastle (North Shields)
- Newcastle (West, Kingston Park)
- Northampton
- Peterlee
- Plymouth
- Portsmouth
- Preston
- Rochdale
- Rotherham
- Slough
- Southampton
- St Albans
- Stirling
- Stratford on Avon
- Sunderland
- Sutton Coldfield
- Swindon
- Tonbridge
- Uxbridge
- Wembley Stadium
- Weston-Super-Mare
- Whetstone
These are the stores that have been sold and will remain open:
- Aberdeen
- Basingstoke
- Birkenhead
- Cambridge (Bar Hill)
- Chichester
- Coatbridge
- Coulsdon
- Crawley
- Darlington
- Dorking
- Edinburgh (Seafield)
- Edinburgh (Stenhouse)
- Fakenham
- Farnham
- Glasgow (London Road)
- Hampton
- Hull
- Inverness
- Newbury
- Newcastle below Lyme
- Norwich
- Nottingham
- Perth
- Peterborough
- Poole
- Stockton
- Warrington
- Watford
- Wimbledon
- Woking
CTD, which was acquired in 2022 by former Body Shop owner Aurelius, supplies ceramic tiles to commercial and residential customers.
Other players in the tile sector, including Tile Giant, Tile Choice and Johnson Tiles, have also recently faced financial and trading difficulties.
Sun Money asked what will happen to customers who are currently waiting for their order to be fulfilled.
What does going into administration mean?
WHEN a company enters administration, all control passes to the appointed administrator.
The administrator must use the company’s assets and operations to pay off all outstanding debts to creditors.
Once a company goes into administration, a “moratorium” is put in place, meaning no legal action can be taken against it.
Administrators write to your creditors and Companies House to say they have been appointed.
They try to prevent the liquidation (shutdown) of the company, and if they can’t, they pay as much of the company’s debts from their remaining assets.
The administrator has eight weeks to write a statement explaining what he plans to do to move the business forward.
This must be sent to creditors, employees and Companies House and invited to approve or amend the plans at a meeting.
A Notice of Intent is used to notify interested parties that a company intends to enter administration.
It is a physical document submitted to the court, usually by the directors, with the aim of preventing the liquidation of the company.
As with standard administrative proceedings, a notice of intent prevents creditors from taking any legal action against the company while they try to straighten out the business.
What else is going on with the housewares chains?
Today’s news follows a tough time for home improvement chains, big and small.
It comes at a time when customers have reduced spending after the pandemic.
Additionally, the recent turmoil in the housing market has meant that homeowners are not as focused on DIY projects as they once were.
Carpetright recently bought rival Tapa as part of a rescue deal, but will close the vast majority of stores and cut more than 1,000 jobs.
In the spring, Kingfisher, which owns both B&Q and Screwfix, announced that annual profits had fallen by more than a quarter.
The company reported a 25.1% drop in underlying pre-tax profit to £568m for the year to 31 January 2024.
Window and door specialist Everest called in administrators in April leaving customers in the dark about their orders
Last year, the group previously warned that profits would fall following a 36% drop in pre-tax profits from £1bn to £611m in the 12 months to January 2023.
Rival Wickes also reported a 31% drop in profits to £52m on fixed revenues of £1.55bn for 2023.
Window and door company Safestyle collapsed into administration in October last year.
The company has a manufacturing site in Wombwell, near Barnsley and 42 sales branches and warehouses across the country.
What other chains have failed in recent years?
We have seen several major losses in recent years, including popular discounter Wilko.
After several failed rescue bids, another chain, The Range, bought Wilko’s name and intellectual property.
CDS Superstores, which trade as The Range and Wilko, have relaunched the latter’s website ahead of the store relaunch.
Paperchase fans were devastated when the retailer disappeared from the high street in April last year.
It fell into administration in February after failing to find a buyer.
This led to the closure of all 134 of its stores, including concession stands in Next and Selfridges, with the loss of 900 jobs.
Supermarket giant Tesco bought the rights to the brand and announced earlier this month that it would return to hundreds of stores.
Health and beauty chain The Body Shop fell into administration in early 2024 and announced the closure of many of its 200 stores.
Almost 500 employees lost their jobs after 75 stores were slated to close.
It has since been confirmed that Aurea Holding, an investment company, is in talks to take over The Body Shop after it outbid rival bidders in an auction process.
Ted Baker also fell into administration in March 2024, with 15 stores closed by 19 April.
In April, it was reported that Next and Frasers Group were reportedly looking at some of the struggling retailer’s stores.
M&Co fell into administration in 2022 but was expected to make a surprise comeback in autumn 2023.
Fellow retailer Yours Clothing bought the M&Co brand and intellectual property after the chain entered administration in December 2022.
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