'Tiny' goes into administration

Grant Thornton has been appointed as administrators to computer group
Granville Technology.

The group, which trades as ‘Tiny’ computers and as the ‘The Computer Shop’
brand, went into administration today with losses amounting to £1m to £2m a
month since January of this year.

Granville has not filed accounts since June 2003, which showed profits of
£2.5m on turnover of £207m.

Administrators Andrew Hosking, Martin Ellis and Les Ross said they had
decided not to trade the business as a going concern.

Some 1,500 of the company’s staff have been made redundant as a result of the
moves.

The joint administrators said: ‘The Group has fallen victim to the continued
price deflation in the personal computer market, exacerbated by a softening of
consumer demand in recent months, and pressure from suppliers. These
redundancies were therefore inevitable.

‘The joint administrators hope to be able to maintain the existing customer
support operation; a further announcement in this matter will be made shortly.
In the meantime, phone calls to existing customer support numbers will continue
to be dealt with.’