Flooring firm goes into administration

Flooring firm enters administration

Birmingham-based Headlam specialises in floor coverings

A flooring company has cut 154 jobs after entering administration.

Birmingham-based Headlam said it had also shut 28 of its 76 trade counters, but that it would keep trading while a restructuring is carried out.

The company, which currently employs around 1,300 workers, said it will pursue a Company Voluntary Arrangement restructuring.

Administrators said the firm had been hit by several economic challenges, including cost inflation and fragile consumer confidence.

Headlam saw its shares suspended at the start of September after warning that it expected to appoint administrators because of a shortage of liquidity.

It called in administrators on Tuesday and said its remaining 17 distribution centres and 48 trade counters would stay open.

The administrators also said the business would begin refinancing its debt facilities and introduce cost reduction measures to help make its finances "sustainable" for the longer term.

Will Wright, UK chief executive at Interpath and joint administrator to Headlam Group, said: "Our immediate priority is to those employees whose roles have been lost as a result of today's site closures."

He said he understood it would be "devastating news" for those affected.

But he also said: "We believe the proposed plan provides a credible path to stabilising the business."