Betta Living order book sold out of administration to former management
THE administrators of Oldham-based Dean House Ltd, trading as Betta Living, have sold the company’s order book in a deal they say will ensure existing orders are met and secure some jobs.
The order book and certain other assets have been sold to a team comprising former management of the company for an undisclosed sum.
Administrators Anthony Collier and Ben Woolrych from FRP Advisory said the deal was structured to help deliver existing orders and added that it may secure a small number of new job opportunities based largely in this region for some on-going trade.
As TheBusinessDesk reported last week, the nationwide retailer of bedroom and kitchen furniture sent the majority of its 300 staff home and closed all 24 stores on Friday November 4, before appointing administrators from FRP Advisory on November 9. All staff have now been notified of redundancy.
Rising rents had pushed the company into a loss, and put pressure on cash flow.
Anthony Collier, joint administrator and partner at FRP Advisory, said: “We are pleased that a solution has been found with a view to fulfilling existing customer orders, which may also lead to the creation of jobs in the future.
“We are disappointed however that a buyer for the business as a whole could not be found which will unfortunately result in store closures and redundancies.
“We will be working closely with those impacted by store closures over the coming days. Our immediate priority will be to work with any former employees and ensure that they are able to make timely claims from the Redundancy Protection Service.”
Betta Living was set up in 1966 under the name Betta Bedrooms.
In 2000 it was taken over by current chairman Noel Dean, who merged Better Bedrooms with his company the English Kitchen Company.
In 2012 Betta Living started supplying bathrooms following the acquisition of a number of Moben and Dolphin showrooms from HomeForm Group.
The company’s most recently filed accounts for the year to November 30, 2014 were signed off in September 2015. They show the company had a turnover of £46.4m (2013: £34.9m) but made a pre-tax loss of £158,000 (2013: £1.7m profit) on an operating loss of £18,000 (2013: £1.6m profit).
In that year it paid £378,000 in dividends to its shareholders.
