Bench's IP assets go sale following administration

London - The intellectual property assets from British contemporary brand Bench have gone up for sale following its administration.

Bench previously filed for administration on April 30, putting 176 jobs in the UK at risk, as well as 170 jobs within its German operations. Now joint administrators Kerry Bailey, Martha Thompson and Antony Nygate from BDO LLP have put up its IP assets for sale and appointed Metis Partners to support the marketing and sale of Bench's IP portfolio.

Administrators put Bench's IP assets up for sale

All offers and requests for information regarding Bench's IP assets are to be submitted directly to Morven Fraser from Metis Partners by 12 pm on May 15. For now, Bench's 20 UK stores and 15 German are to remain open and no redundancies have been made to date. Bench declined to comment on the future trading of its stores in the UK and Germany.

Bench, which was founded in Manchester in 1989, has held a central position on the UK high street for nearly 30 years. In 2011 the brand generated approximately 150 million pounds in revenue, but it has struggled to maintain its market position since then.

The high street retailer previously cited recent challenges in the UK retail markets as well as a major logistics issue in 2016 as contributing factor to its current predicament.

However, despite the current challenges faced by Bench, the joint administrators are confident that Bench holds potential for growth and "could have a bright future with the right strategy."

Photo: Courtesy of Bench