Administrator PricewaterhouseCooper announces more job cuts at Maplin-- specifically 66 more redundancies at the London and Rotherham head office-- as hopes for salvation for the retailer get even dimmer.
“It is with real regret that we have made this decision," the administrator says. "We are grateful for the support of the employees during this difficult period and we will make every effort to help the affected staff, working with the Maplin HR team over the coming days.”
PwC had already fired 63 head office staff earlier this month, bringing the total number of redundancies to 129. Maplin currently has 79 head office staff left, and employs over 2000 workers in 217 stores, none of which have been closed as yet. That said, closures could start any time this week should the administrators fail to find a line of rescue.
Maplin attributes the situation to failure to mitigate the impact of the devaluation of the British pound after the Brexit vote, as well as a weak consumer environment and a withdrawal of credit insurance. It is not the only recent victim of the currently unfortunate high street situation-- aside from CE retail, the most notable case is Toys R US, who also collapsed last week after it failed to find a new backer. Other British high street retailers going through hard times include Carpetright, New Look, Moss Bros and Mothercare.
