Up to a third of First Quench stores were under par says KPMG chief

Up to a third of First Quench Retailing's 1200 off-licences were not profitable, according to KPMG's UK restructuring chief.

Richard Fleming said while "800 or 900" of the off-licences, which include Threshers, Wine Rack, The Local and Haddows, were in profit when First Quench called in the administrators, the rest were suffering financially.

"Some are marginal and could be profitable with someone else," he told The Grocer. There's been a lot of interest from off-licences and supermarkets and other high-street operators. We would love to see as many stores as possible sold so employment is preserved."

First Quench Retailing employed approximately 6,300 people, but 373 stores are to close forcing 1,738 redundancies, administrators said last week