Deloitte administrators to close 41 Comet stores

DELOITTE ADMINISTRATORS are to close 41 stores by the end of the month at collapsed electrical retailer Comet.

Neville Kahn, Nick Edwards and Chris Farrington, all from Deloitte, have been appointed joint administrators of the retailer, which is headquartered in Rickmansworth.

Comet operates out of 236 stores and employs 6,611 full- and part-time staff, which is equivalent to 4,683 full-time staff.

The administrators are are holding sales in all the Comet stores and redeploying staff from the closing shops where necessary. However, the administrators said it was inevitable that redundancies will take place.

Closing down sales have begun in 27 stores – if no buyer is found, then a further 14 stores will begin a closing down sale later this week.

A dedicated employee helpline has been set up and an employee assistance programme to help staff made redundant find other jobs has been created. 

Farrington said: "We are very grateful to the company's employees for their professionalism, loyalty and support at this difficult time and all employees will of course continue to be paid for all the work they do while the company is in administration."