Henri lloyd has called in the administrators with the loss of dozens of jobs
INDUSTRY DATABASE
HENRI-LLOYD LTD
Sailing and lifestyle clothing manufacturer and retailer Henri Lloyd has appointed administrators with the loss of dozens of jobs.
The company, based in Manchester, was founded in 1963 by Angus Lloyd and Henri Strzelecki and was a key driver in sailing clothing technology with products used by many racing teams including Land Rover BAR.
The firm also counted Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, among its clientele.
Henri Lloyd had seven stores around the UK and clothing was also sold in 20 concessions within the House of Fraser which itself is planning to shut 31 stores.
The administrators – Chris Ratten and Jeremy Woodside of RSM Restructuring Advisory – have since completed the sale of five stores, certain stock and assets to Aligro UK Ltd, a subsidiary of Aligro Group Ltd.
As a result of the transaction, Aligro UK will continue to trade the Henri Lloyd stores in Salcombe, Dartmouth, Cowes, Cheshire Oaks and Lymington, securing the jobs of 38 store staff and six head office employees.
However, 128 other staff in the Henri Lloyd headquarters in Manchester, in the House of Fraser concessions and in four closed stores in Falmouth, Truro, Street and Swindon have all been made redundant.
“The decision to appoint administrators was made due to challenging trading conditions on the high street,” said Mr Ratten.
“We are pleased to have secured the sale of certain stores and assets to Aligro UK Limited. This sale represents the best outcome for creditors, it maintains Henri-Lloyd’s presence in key locations and secures 44 jobs.
“Selling the whole business as a going concern was not a viable option and regrettably a number of staff have been made redundant as a result. We will be supporting them to make their claims to the Redundancy Payments Office.”