135 jobs lost as interiors manufacturer collapses

A Bradford-based interiors manufacturer and retail sector supplier has gone into administration, with well over a hundred staff made redundant.

Howard Smith and Dave Costley-Wood from KPMG’s Restructuring practice were appointed Joint Administrators of Cardinal Shopfitting and Systems Limited on 13 July 2020.

The Bradford-based company’s clients had included major high street chains, alongside a residential property offering.

However, it was unable to continue trading given a collapse in its order book, following the impact of COVID-19 on the retail sector.

135 of the firm’s 170 staff – approximately half of whom were on furlough – were made redundant following the appointment of the administrators.

The remaining 35 will assist the administrators in the short term to complete work in progress.

Howard Smith, Joint Administrator and Associate Partner at KPMG, said: “Cardinal is a victim of the retail sector at large conducting a strategic reassessment of the needs of its store estate following the COVID-19 lockdown.

“Without plans to invest in their high street presence until 2021 at the earliest, Cardinal’s client base were unable to provide the necessary certainty over future contracts to enable it to continue trading.

“We have employment specialists liaising with the workforce to support them through the redundancy process.”