Moores Furniture Group: Around 124 jobs lost as West Yorkshire firm enters administration

Administrators from Interpath confirmed the redundancies of approximately 124 employees at the West Yorkshire firm, which was first founded in 1947.

Moores Furniture Group supplied kitchens to housebuilders, as well as to the public sector and affordable housing developers.

A statement on Moores issued by administrators at Interpath said: “In common with a number of other companies operating across the building and construction supply chain, and despite strong progress made in ongoing cost reduction and market share growth, the company had experienced challenging trading conditions in recent months, exacerbated by rising input costs and low levels of housebuilding activity.

“In response, the directors sought to explore the options available, including options for sale and investment. However, when no solvent outcomes were available, they took the difficult decision to file for the appointment of administrators.”

James Clark and Will Wright from Interpath were subsequently appointed joint administrators to Moores.

Immediately after their appointment, they concluded a sale of the customer list and certain other intellectual property assets to Wren Trade Kitchens Limited, a subsidiary of Wren Kitchens Ltd, through a pre-pack administration process.

Mr Clark, who is managing director at Interpath, said: “The strong headwinds facing the UK construction industry continue to have an impact on companies up and down the supply chain.

“Against this backdrop, we are pleased to have been able to secure a transaction which provides an opportunity to minimise disruption for customers and suppliers, and which will enable Moores’ heritage in kitchen manufacturing to continue as part of the Wren family.”

Administrators said they would be providing support to those impacted, including supporting them with the information required to make claims from the Redundancy Payments Service.

A statement from Wren said: “Wren’s Contracts division had been in talks with Moores and the administrators but unfortunately was unable to save the business.

“We have however agreed an exclusive option to provide customers affected by this situation with the ability to seamlessly transfer outstanding contracts over to us. This will ensure those customers will be able to continue their operations with absolutely no impact on price, delivery schedules or administration costs.”