111 jobs saved as listed fishing retailer is bought from administration

Rotherham-headquartered listed retailer Fishing Republic has been sold to an “unconnected third party” – saving 111 jobs after the struggling firm was placed in administration yesterday.

Leonard Curtis Business Rescue and Recovery were yesterday appointed administrators of the company, which has this year been hit by crisis. Releasing a statement last night, Leonard Curtis said: “After a period of marketing the Joint Administrators completed a deal today which has preserved the jobs of all 111 employees across the retailer’s 14-strong UK store network.”

AIM-listed Fishing Republic is one of the largest retailers of fishing equipment in the UK but has this year been hit by crisis.

Yesterday’s administration announcement followed a series of issues at the retailer, including a “significant deterioration in trading”, which led to a turnaround plan involving a £1.3m share placing in January, several senior management changes during the last 12 months and shares being suspended on AIM.

Reporting its six month results to 30 June 2018, Fishing Republic reported pre-tax losses of £2.5m – a huge widening on the same period in the previous year when it reported pre-tax losses of £117,554. Revenue also dropped to £3.3m from £4m.

At the time, chairman, James Newman said: “Fishing Republic is in a year of transition. Following a comprehensive review of the Group’s operations, we have taken firm action in the first six months of the financial year to stabilise the business and to implement changes to improve its performance.

“The restructuring of the business was undertaken against very difficult trading conditions – so it has been a particularly challenging period. While the sales environment continues to be tough, with strong competitive pressures, our major shareholders have supported our plans, and we remain confident of the prospects for the business as we navigate through the current challenges.”

In October, the firm said it had suspended trading its shares on the AIM after certain major shareholders were no longer willing to provide further short-term financial assistance.

Almost one month later, Fishing Republic revealed it was seeking to raise equity finance to fund its immediate and future working capital requirements.

After failing to secure additional financial support, the company yesterday filed for administration.

The company’s shares remain suspended from trading on AIM.

Problems at Fishing Republic first arose in November 2017, when the business confirmed that it had suffered a significant deterioration in trading, which led to its CEO Steve Gross stepping down, who was replaced by Chris Griffin as acting chief executive. Griffin has since left the business and a new COO – Stephen Kyriacou  – was appointed.

Then in September this year, Daniel Quinn, who had been the commercial director at Go Outdoors for six years, was announced as the firm’s new CEO. James Newman, who had been acting in an executive capacity, was to resume his role as non-executive chairman.

But in October, Fishing Republic said that while Quinn had agreed to assist in assessing options for the business he would not be taking up his role as Chief Executive Officer or joining the Board .  Newman is continuing in his role as Executive Chairman until further notice.