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Difficult developments at Jessops

Camera firm Jessops, which has stores across the North East and North Yorkshire, has warned of more job cuts.

Jessops says shareholders were likely to be wiped out as the company battles for survival.

The chain, which has 211 stores, is in talks with its advisors and HSBC about a fundamental restructuring of its £60m debt. The outcome, if successful, is expected to leave shareholders with nothing, while Jessops also warned of consequences for staff.

It plans to increase the proportion of part-time workers so stores will be fully staffed at peak trading periods.

This will result in redundancies, although a spokesman said it was too early to comment on numbers.

The update on restructuring came as Jessops - the UK’s largest photographic retailer - reported half-year losses of £6.3 m for the six months to 31 March. Like-for-like sales were down four per cent, although the trend in the subsequent eight weeks has been more encouraging, with a drop of 3.6%.

The Leicester-based company said that discussions with HSBC are ongoing and they are working together towards a solvent solution. However, due to the historic high level of debt, the board believes that it is unlikely that any value will be attributed to shareholders.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .