Bowie Castlebank Group (in Administration)
Blair Nimmo and Tony Friar of KPMG Restructuring were appointed as Joint Administrators of the Bowie Castlebank Group which includes Alexander Kennedy & Sons Limited today, 2 December 2008, at the request of the Company's directors.
Bowie Castlebank Group trades under the Klick Photopoint and Max Spielman retail brand names in the photoprocessing market, and also owns the William Munro Cleaners retail brand. The company employs 1,664 people across its network of 314 shops, its processing centre in Wishaw, its head office in Glasgow and warehouse in Chester. There are 197 branches Klick stores and 117 Max Spielman. Approximately 60 Klick stores also provide Munro Cleaners outlets. All Munro cleaner outlets are based in Scotland.
Due to the advance of digital photography, the photoprocessing business has suffered significant losses in recent years, while reduced levels of clothing requiring dry cleaning has seen the cleaning business contract. The company explored several opportunities to restructure or refinance the business, but these were not successful. The Administrators have unfortunately had no option but to significantly reduce trading activity with the regrettable consequence of 817 redundancies.
Blair Nimmo, joint administrator and head of restructuring for KPMG in Scotland said: "It is with regret that we have had to make substantial redundancies across Bowie Castlebank's operations and we are currently working with Government agencies to ensure the employees' issues are dealt with as quickly as possible. At the same time we are marketing the business in an attempt to secure a sale of some of the Group's stores or operations as a going concern. Any interested parties should contact the Joint Administrators as soon as possible.”
Customers who currently have photos with either Klick or Max Spielman for development or have garments with Munro's for cleaning, are advised to return to their local store as quickly as possible to retrieve these items. All efforts will be made to return items to their owners where possible.
Restructuring 03 December 2008
-ENDS-
Further information:
For further information customers should contact the customer helpline telephone number on 0870 750 7112.
KPMG
Allan Barr
Tel: 0141 333 9585
Email: allan.barr@bigpartnership.co.uk
Notes to editors:
Q. What brands does Bowie Castlebank operate?
A. Bowie Castlebank trades under the Klick Photopoint and Max Spielmann retail brand names in the photoprocessing market, and also owns the William Munro Cleaners retail brand
Q. Are all the brands affected?
A. Yes - all three brands are part of Bowie Castlebank Group.
Q. How many branches does the Bowie Castlebank Group have of each of these brands?
A. 197 Klick and 117 Max Spielmann. c.60 Klick stores also have a Munro cleaners operation within.
Q. Where are their outlets located?
A. Klick across UK. Max Spielman England. Munro all based in Scotland. (60 in Scotland; 11 in Wales; 243 in England; none in Ireland)
Q. Are any of the outlets being closed?
A. There are no plans to close any outlets at present
Q. Where are they headquarted?
A. Byres Road, Glasgow.
Q. What was the company's last turnover? A. £59.5m in the year to 31 March 2008.
About KPMG:
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