Buyer found for Albemarle & Bond

A LONDON investment fund has bought the pawnbroker Albemarle & Bond out of administration.

Promethean Investments will take on 128 of the 187 shops which employ 628 of the 900 staff.

The 59 branches which are not part of the deal include seven of the 40 in the North West in Ellesmere Port, Hyde, Liverpool, Salford, Stockport, Wigan and Swinton.

Administrator PwC said a new chief executive, Stephen Plowman, had been appointed to reconfigure the business and refocus it back to its core business lines of pawnbroking and jewellery retailing.

Lead administrator Mike Jervis said: “The deal announced today was the best offer received, preserving the most jobs and keeping the most stores open. All 120,000 pledged items remain safe and available for the customers to redeem.
 
“This deal achieves the most positive outcome for customers, staff and landlords- which has always been a key driver for A&B’s stakeholders.”

PwC was appointed to the Wakefield-based business last month when it said the firm had expanded but had too many underperforming shops, and was hit by the decline in gold prices.