One of the country’s largest pawnbrokers, Albemarle & Bond Holdings, has gone into administration owing more than £35m
PwC has been appointed as administrators to the group of companies making up the UK’s second largest pawnbrokers, which hit problems after expanding its Albemarle Bond and Herbert Brown chain of shops rapidly during the recession.
The group has 183 branches and almost 900 staff, serving 140,000 customers and provides pawnbroking, gold buying, cheque cashing and unsecured lending facilities. It also has a jewellery retail operation.
Following a decline in gold prices in 2013, 40 of the group’s pop-up gold buying branches in shopping centres were closed. However, it has faced ongoing problems and efforts to turnaround the business have failed. Last year one of the company’s main shareholders, US pawnbroker EZ Corp, refused to underwrite a £35m rights issue.
The AIM-listed company was suspended from trading on 24 March with the share price at 6.75p ‘pending classification of the group’s financial position’. It had lost 97% of its stock value in the past 12 months, dropping from a share price of 208.5p.
Mike Jervis, joint administrator and partner at PwC, said: ‘The group expanded its branch portfolio in the period to early 2013 and ended up with too many underperforming outlets. It then explored a rights issue to raise funds, before attempting a solvent sales process. Together, these efforts lasted more than six months. Despite this history many different parts of the group, and large swathes of its shops, remain profitable.’
Jervis said the aim was to sell all or part of the business, and all staff and landlords have been paid to date.
‘However, some redundancies may be necessary depending on the outcome of efforts to sell the business. Every branch will initially remain open as sale discussions progress. This also enables customers to continue to redeem their goods as normal as they pay off their loans,’ Jervis said.
The joint administrators for Albemarle & Bond Holdings plc, Albemarle & Bond Jewellers & Pawnbrokers Ltd and Herbert Brown & Son Ltd are Mike Jervis, Peter Dickens, Toby Underwood and Stuart Maddison of PwC.
