December 30, 2008

By By Andre Paine, London

U.K. entertainment retailer Zavvi's Irish stores have been put into provisional liquidation, in line with the situation in Britain.

There are 114 Zavvi stores in the U.K. and 11 in Ireland. They employ 2,363 permanent staff and 1,052 temporary staff.

Zavvi's British stores went into administration on Dec. 24, roughly equivalent to Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. The Irish stores were not then subject to formal insolvency proceedings, but that process began today (Dec. 30).

The company launched 15 months ago following a management buyout of the Virgin Megastore arm of the Virgin Group. All stores are still trading under the control of the administrators, Ernst & Young, and are holding their traditional post-Christmas sale.

Zavvi was badly affected by the failure of Woolworths Group's wholesale distributor EUK, which went into administration on Nov. 27. EUK was Zavvi's supplier and the retailer struggled to obtain stock elsewhere on favorable credit terms.

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