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Laura Ashley calls the administrators in for its Australian branch

By Angela Gonzalez-Rodriguez

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British homewares, furnishing and fashion brand Laura Ashley has called in administrators to take care of Laura Ashley Australia. The company will continue trading for the time being.

As reported by local media, Laura Ashley director Daryl Chait has appointed FTI Consulting to administer the ailing retailer.

Store closures and difficult trading conditions have been raised as main reasons for the administration, although no financial details have yet been released.

It is the administrators’ intention to continue to trade business as usual while an urgent assessment of the company’s financial position is conducted,” said FTI in a statement. The administrators also suggested that it may need to streamline the store network.

Laura Ashley was established in Australian in 1971 and operates under licence agreement with Laura Ashley UK. The company has stores in Australia and New Zealand.

“Laura Ashley [Australia] did really well for a while, he (Chait) went into furniture, which went really well for a period of time, but then they had some issues regarding product design and selection and had a couple of seasons where it didn’t work out and they made some wrong moves,” one source told Fairfax Media.

Laura Ashley’s network of 38 Australian stores will reportedly continue to operate and wages will continue to be paid. The New Zealand stores will not be affected by the administration process.

Laura Ashley