RECEIVERS for the Au Naturale chain of homewares stores have sold another tranche of shops to unnamed investors.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) yesterday announced the sale of 46 of the remaining 59 stores to a group of British investors said to have experience in the retail industry.
There were 159 Au Naturale stores when its parent company, Internacionale,
was put into administration on 7 May.
Cheshire-based Opus Estates bought 31 Au Naturale stores last month. Au Naturale's sister company, fashion retailer Internacionale, was sold to an overseas retailer. There are now 13 Au Naturale stores still controlled by the administrator, three in Scotland and ten in England.
Graham Martin, a joint administrator with PWC, admitted selling the remaining outlets will be difficult but they will continue to run them as a going concern for a few months yet.
"It will get harder and harder to achieve another sale but we won't rule it out," said Martin.
The remaining stores are "not as attractive and not making as good a return" and "didn't fit into the purchasers' strategy", said Martin.
In total 1,900 jobs out of 2,200 have been saved since various parts of Internacionale have been sold off.
The company ran into trouble at the end of last year when it encountered tough trading conditions and problems with its distribution chain.
The full article contains 228 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
