Hundreds of electrical jobs axed

Northern Electric Retail went into administration on Friday

More than 400 jobs have been axed by administrators running the household appliance retailer Northern Electric.

KPMG Corporate Recovery, which was appointed on Friday, said a total of 402 staff - including 285 workers in Northern Ireland - had been made redundant.

Gateshead-based Northern Retail has 35 stores in Northern Ireland and another 25 on mainland Britain.

Around 100 staff will be left at the operation following the redundancy announcement on Wednesday.

The business, which generated annual turnover of £80m, was formerly the retail arm of North Eastern Electricity distributor Northern Electric, which sold it to an independent company in June last year.

This is a devastating blow to a very loyal staff who have fallen victim to the marketplace Unison spokeswoman

KPMG said a call centre to deal with customer inquiries had been set up.

Richard Fleming, KPMG Corporate Recovery Partner and joint administrator of Northern Retail Limited (trading as Northern Electric) and Shop Electric Limited said: "Unfortunately, we have had no choice but to make 117 staff in the UK, and 285 staff in Northern Ireland redundant.

"However, notwithstanding these redundancies, we hope to open up a number of stores in both the UK and Northern Ireland next week to offer a sale of remaining stock.

"At the same time, we continue to seek buyers for the remaining stores that are closed (while in administration) as going concerns."

Credit purchases

A spokeswoman for trade union Unison said: "This is a devastating blow to a very loyal staff who have fallen victim to the marketplace and the company's unrealistic expectations about profits to be made from these shops.

"Our first priority is making sure staff get any money that is due. We are approaching local companies about possible alternative employment."

Customers who have paid for goods on their credit cards and who have not received them, have been advised to contact their credit card provider.

Customers with enquiries can contact the call centre on 0845 6040516.