200+ redundancies so far as Oasis and Warehouse administration goes ahead

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Apr 15, 2020

The widely flagged administration filing for Oasis and Warehouse happened on Wednesday with the company making 202 staff redundant immediately.

The group, which also includes The Idle Man and Bastyan Fashions brands, is furloughing most of its 2,000+ employees with only around 04 people retained in the head office to work with the administrators.

As expected, the administration is being handled by Deloitte with Rob Harding and Richard Hawes overseeing the process. 

The brands are continuing to trade online for now, while the company's stores are currently shut, but it's unclear whether they will continue in the longer term.

The company had been up for sale but has found no buyers willing to take it on as a going concern in the current environment. It was previously also up for sale in 2017 but that sale was eventually pulled. Only one bidder was left and was unwilling to pay the price that Icelandic owner Kaupthing wanted.

The administration filing covers only the UK operations with the company’s Irish and Swedish ops, as well as its franchise partners in other countries, being unaffected for now.

Rob Harding blamed the coronavirus crisis for the administration filing and said that the company had seen significant interest from potential buyers before the crisis escalated.