1,200 jobs at risk as retailer lapses into administration

CONVENIENCE chain My Local has gone into administration, putting 1,200 jobs on the line.

Already 90 stores have closed down with three more set to shut down imminently, leaving only 32 still trading.

The group has stores in Birmingham, Rugeley and Shirley – the city centre store is one of those to have closed but the others remain open.

Administrators KPMG will need to find buyers for the remaining stores and 458 jobs will also be lost. It has been reported that The Co-operative was buying some of the remaining sites.

Former owners Morrisons have confirmed that employees in stores with no buyer would be able to get a job with the grocer.

Mark Orton, Birmingham-based partner at KPMG and joint administrator at My Local, said: “Companies across the convenience store sector have faced significant challenges in recent times, through increasing competition, pricing pressures, changes in customers’ buying habits and general structural change within the sector.

“Since taking over the business in October last year, management have faced tough trading conditions and despite their best efforts to improve performance, My Local was ultimately unable to return to viability. Having explored a number of other options, the directors were unable to find a way forward and took the difficult decision to place the company into administration.

“Although the majority of stores have now closed, we are in active discussions with a number of interested parties in relation to both the remaining 32 premises that are trading and a small number of those that have closed. We are pursuing these opportunities as a matter of priority in the hope that we will be able to conclude successful sales and safeguard as many jobs as possible.”

Administrators are working closely with all employees, in particular those in need of support after being made redundant.

My Local owners, Greybull Capital, announced their intention to appoint administrators last Tuesday.

According to The Telegraph, the My Local board said yesterday evening: “intense competition in the toughest market for convenience stores for 20 years and it has not proved possible to return the business to profit.”

This comes 10 months after it was sold by Morrisons to Greybull Capital in September 2015, with the backing of Mike Greene, Secret Millionaire star and former executive at McColls and Spar.

In November 2015, chief executive Mike Greene went on a recruitment drive to employ a further 250 people. He accused Morrisons of “basic errors” and expected the company to turn over a profit immediately.

Morrisons revealed that they were looking for buyers for the chain last year, after chairman Andrew Higginson revealed that around 30% of the convenience stores were under-performing.