More than 2,000 jobs go as JJB Sports enters administration

KPMG ADMINISTRATORS have arranged a pre-pack administration for the sale of retailer JJB Sports.

Brian Green, David Costley-Wood and Richard Fleming, partners at KPMG, were appointed joint administrators of JJB Sports Group which includes SSL Retail and Blane Leisure.

Following their appointment, the administrators completed a deal to sell part of the business to Sports Direct International, a rival of JJB.

Sports Direct acquired 20 of the stores, the brand – including the Slazenger Gold brand licences – and the website, securing 550 jobs. The deal is worth about £23.77m, with Sports Direct likely to pay a further £250,000 depending on a post-sale stock take.

However, the remaining 133 stores will be closed today resulting in about 2,200 redundancies. Staff are expected to receive full holiday and wage arrears payments. About 167 employees have also been retained to help the administrators.

Richard Fleming (pictured), UK head of restructuring at KPMG, said: “Successive attempts to restructure the business, both financially and operationally, have not been enough to prevent the company falling into administration.

“Unfortunately, a buyer could only be found for 20 stores on a going concern basis. All staff made redundant as a result of store closures have had their arrears of wages and holiday entitlements paid in full.

“Our team of employment specialists will be supporting staff on completing redundancy forms and putting them in touch with job seeker services. We will now be reviewing what options are available for the remainder of the business, such as selling leasehold interests.”