Everything you need to know that you might have overlooked

Warehouse is closed

Contemporary high street women’s retailers Warehouse and Oasis have both announced that they will be closing permanently with the loss of 1,800 positions. 

Already in administration, both brands’ existing stock was bought out by a restructuring company but they turned down the chance to buy the 92 physical stores and 400 concessions in other retailers which won’t reopen again.

Strathclyde Park suffers rollercoaster ride

Running a seasonal business like a theme park can be described as “swings and roundabouts” in normal business circumstances. 

The summer months are plentiful with lots of visitors and excitement while the winter is fallow when you use the downtime to prepare the park for the upcoming Summer season. 

Sadly, the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown has undermined the plans of many operators including M&D Leisure who own Strathclyde Park, Scotland’s largest theme park. 

The business went into administration this week with the loss of 165 jobs. 

Formed in 1996, the park had over 40 attractions and a hotel, which has also been placed into administration. 

End of the road for coach companies

As non-essential journeys are at a minimum, transport companies are also taking a disproportionate hit. 

Dorset-based Sea View Coaches have gone into administration with the loss of 17 full-time positions. The collapse in demand for its main business of running coastal trips to Weymouth and Lyme Regis hastened the end. 

Specialist Leisure Group (SLG) which owns several other coach operators including Shearings and Caledonian Travel are also reportedly negotiating with administrators. 

SLG have also been hit with a severe downturn for its other leisure-based subsidiaries including The Bay hotel chain and sportingbreaks.com which runs popular package breaks to the big British summer sporting events like The Open, the British Grand Prix and Wimbledon – all of which have been cancelled or postponed this year. 

Airline seat manufacturer tightens belt as flights remain grounded

With the travails of airlines taking up a lot of headlines, it’s easy to forget that a lot of businesses in the supply chain are going to struggle to survive the lockdown and reduced demand in any recovery period. 

Safran Seats, a manufacturer of seats and safety equipment for aircraft has announced that 400 positions will go across its various sites in the UK including the closure of a factory in Camberley, Surrey. 

Collapsing sales sink diving retailer

Simply Scuba, the UK’s diving retailer of the year for an unbroken ten year reign, have announced that they are going into administration. 

They employed 32 staff and had been operating from their base in Faversham, Kent for over 25 years.  The company recently diversified into other ‘Simply’ branded ranges including Simply Swim and Simply Hike but the pressure on the main brand was too much to bear under current market circumstances. 

Construction news is mixed

As more building and home construction sites are opening up safely around the country, it’s especially sad to hear of construction companies going out of business at this stage as we are probably nearer the end of the lockdown than the beginning.

Construction Partnership UK (CPUK) enjoyed a turnover of £60 million last year and operated on several sites across the north of England and the midlands for 20 years before they announced that they had gone into administration this week. 

All 90 staff had been placed on furlough before the decision to call in the administrators was taken.

Also family-run Central Building Contractors (CBC), based in Glasgow announced that they too had gone into administration with the loss of 148 jobs. 

The company is well-known in its native Scotland and would have celebrated its 50th anniversary next year.

We’ll be writing more articles soon about what businesses can do to prepare for the lockdown ending and the economy tentatively ramping up activity. 

If you’re wondering about aspects of your company that you think could be enhanced and improved in the meantime then you should get in touch with us. 

After a free, initial virtual consultation with one of our expert team of advisors, we’ll both have a clearer idea of what we can do to help get your business ready to remerge into 2020 and make it a year to remember – for the right reasons.