Camera retail chain Jessops goes into administration

In a statement issued to the press, PricewaterhouseCoopers, which has been appointed to administer the struggling company, says that Jessops has seen its core marketplace suffer “a significant decline in 2012 and forecasts for 2013 indicate that this decline would continue.”

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Jessops’ position also deteriorated in the run-up to Christmas as a result of reduced confidence in UK retail, the administrators continue. “Despite additional funding being made available to the company by the funders, this has meant that Jessops has not generated the profits it had planned with a consequent impact on its funding needs. This was exacerbated by a credit squeeze in the supplierbase.”

PwC will now review Jessops’ financial position and “hold discussions with its principal stakeholders to see if the business can be preserved. Trading in the stores is hoped to continue today but is critically dependent on these ongoing discussions. However, in the current economic climate it is inevitable that there will be store closures.”

Jessops employs more than 2000 people in 192 stores around the UK.

The administrators have also announced that, from 09 January, Jessops will not be in a position to honour customer vouchers or to accept returned goods.