Furniture retailer Land of Leather has attempted to reassure customers that it will either honour their orders or return their deposits after it went into administration.
Lee Manning and Nick Edwards of Deloitte LLP, the business advisory firm, were today appointed as joint administrators to the chain, which has 98 stores in Britain and Northern Ireland and 11 in the Republic.
Deloitte said 29 full-time jobs are at risk in the Northern Ireland and 67 in the Republic.
The retailer has outlets in Belfast, Newtownabbey, Coleraine, Newry, Derry, Dublin, Swords, Limerick, Cork, Leopardstown, Athlone, Sligo, Tralee, Bray, Kilkenny and Galway, and Drogheda.
The company directors had been seeking to either raise working capital facilities or sell the business following what they said were "challenging trading conditions".
The results of the company's January clearance sale have been "very disappointing," it said in a Regulatory News Service statement today.
In a statement, Mr Manning said Land of Leather stores would continue to trade as normal while the administrators continue to talk to interested parties with a view to concluding a sale of the business as a going concern.
"The administrators are working closely with the management to protect the interests of customers who have paid deposits on furniture orders. We have taken a number of steps both to protect customers and to inform them of how the administration affects their circumstances," he said.
All customers who have either paid a deposit by credit card or visa debit card, or who have paid a deposit by any means since December 26th are "fully protected", the administrator said.
"Any customers who paid a deposit by cash or by a non-visa debit card before December 26th will be offered a discount on other stock if their original order cannot be fulfilled. However, it is the objective of the administrators to sell the business as a going concern and have all deposits honoured."
Mr Manning said the administrator had written to all customers who had paid a deposit to explain how they are affected.
"The company website, www.landofleather.co.uk is also updated regularly. While stores are open for business as usual, we urge customers who have paid deposits to use the hotline, email enquiry address and website, rather than to visit the stores, unless it is to pay the balance on goods ready for delivery." However, both the UK and Irish websites of the company were unavailable this afternoon.
Where customers have been given a scheduled delivery date or have been advised that goods are awaiting payment of the balance before delivery can be made, these deliveries and orders will all be fulfilled.
Trading in Land of Leather shares was suspended in London earlier. The shares rose 0.2 penny to 2.95 pence before trading was halted.
The company ended talks on a takeover last month, saying the offers it received would have produced "insufficient value" for investors.
The retailer's shares fell more than 99 per cent last year after a slide in sales resulted in a full-year loss.
In October Land of Leather revealed its annual pre-tax profits had dived to £2.3 million, down from £18.5 million the previous year, while like-for-like sales orders had fallen by 28.9 per cent. But on the plus side, the company is debt free, and reported £6.9 million of cash.
The hotline number for customer inquiries is 0800 496 0868 and the email enquiry address is lol@deloitte.co.uk.
