Jobs under threat at DIY group

HUNDREDS of jobs at Manchester DIY chain Fads and its sister group Texstyle World are under threat after its parent company was forced to call in the administrators.

Strategic Retail announced it was putting the stores as well as its Leveys chain into administration late on Friday after tough trading saw it rack up first half losses of £885,000. Its shares were suspended this morning.

The move came after attempts by the £20m turnover group to reposition itself as a “value for money” retailer failed and it said it had taken the decision “in the light of current trading conditions”.

Manchester-based Strategic Retail is the latest retailer to fall victim to the slump after Woolworths and MFI.

It said the recent deterioration in sales had been especially acute in its larger out-of-town Texstyle World stores, where trading was 11% down on a like-for-like basis in the six months to August 30.

Leveys was down 7.8% over the same period while Fads proved more resilient with a 2% fall. Losses hit £855,000 in the period, compared with £26,000 a year earlier.

The company traded from 47 stores and has around 300 staff.

Strategic Retail was formed in 2003 as a cash shell to acquire companies in the retail sector. Led by a group of Cheshire-based investors including David Mond from Manchester accountants Hodgsons and hi-fi tycoon Julian Richer, Fads was rescued from administration five years ago and placed in the new group which soon floated on AIM.

Leveys, a North East based home decor chain, was added a year later. In 2005, it acquired several the Scottish Texstyle World stores.

Ian Currie, chairman and a key investor in Strategic Retail said the group had suffered a severe trading decline in the last month.

“We are hopeful that some of the stores will be saved. The sector is very difficult and has been so for a while, but sales really began to decline around four weeks ago.

“The administration was the only option – there was no more costs to be taken out  of the business.”