Clubsport enters administration

Clubsport (Kington) Ltd, an Animal franchisee, has fallen into administration, which has led to 7 out of 12 stores being shut down, with 47 employees losing their jobs. The sporting goods chain previously ran twelve stores across England and Wales that operated

under license from British sports wear brand Animal. Now Clubsport currently operates stores in Herefordshire, Carmarthen and Aberystwyth whilst stores in towns Wrexham, Llandudno and Bangor have been closed.

Clubsport

manages to save five out of twelve stores from closure

Simon Girling and Graham Randall from accountancy firm BDO have been named administrators. The pair have managed to sell 5 of the sporting goods stores and save 43 jobs. The remaining stores have been obtained by a new firm, Clubsport (A New Beginning) and are set to remain open.

One individual who was made redundant as part of the store closure told the Daily Post: "Basically, they shut all the stores without any notice, not even a week. They came in and just stripped everything."

Randall however, explained the reason behind the store closure to Drapers: "The company was exposed to difficulties as a result of the economic climate and a decline in sales volumes over the past twelve months in certain of its locations. The joint administrators explored every avenue to preserve the future of all stores, but regrettably this has not been possible."

"Principally, I am delighted that 43 jobs have been saved, and these stores can now move forward on a secure financial footing. We will be assisting affected staff with their redundancy claims and would like to thank them for their forbearance at this time," added Randall.

Animal's standalone stores and other franchise retail locations will not be affected by the administration.