Carpetright: Staff and customers lose out as rival Tapi rescues brand out of administration

Carpetright has been rescued out of administration but more than 1,000 jobs have been lost.

The major carpet and tiling retailer, which is headquartered in Essex, has been snapped up by rival Tapi for an undisclosed sum.

The move saves the jobs of more than 300 people and 54 stores.

Carpetright ran around 270 stores across the UK and employed around 1,800 people.

In a statement, Tapi said: “We are desperately sad not to have been able to save more of the business and customer orders.

“However, as we looked into the details of the situation, we quickly established that saving the entire business was unviable.

“Carpetright has been materially loss making for a number of years, and it has significant debt held by the owner.

“We believe that we were the only offer that the administrator received that saved a large number of roles.

“We were also mindful of how the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) may view a larger deal.”

In its most recently filed set of accounts, for the 14 months to January 1, 2022, Carpetright reported a revenue of £372.6m, down from £493.2m in the prior 18 months, while its pre-tax loss was cut from £64.3m to £23.1m.

Its accounts for 2022 were due to be filed with Companies House by the end of 2023 but are late.

Carpertright launched a CVA back in 2018 which entailed 81 store closures, rent reductions and business restructuring in order to stay alive. 

Tapi’s managing director Jeevan Karir said: “Our goal, initially, was to try to save all of Carpetright.

“However, as we looked into the details of the situation, we quickly established that saving the entire business was unviable.

“The business has been materially loss making for a number of years and it has significant debt held by the owner.

“We then turned ourselves to trying to save a number of stores whilst being mindful of how the competition authorities would look at any deal.

“So, we arrived at 54 stores and two supporting warehouses. All of which are exceptional and that we’d be proud to have as part of the Tapi family.”

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