A Tyneside kitchens and home improvement business has been sold out of administration to its sister company in a move that has protected 77 jobs.
The £20m turnover Kitchens Plus Ltd called in administrators at Leonard Curtis earlier this month having run into difficulties brought on by inflation and drop off of customers. In what was said to be a "happy ending" for the firm's management and staff, the company was sold for an undisclosed sum to Windows Plus Roofs Ltd which has a mutual director in Steve Akers.
Joint administrators Iain Nairn and Rochelle Schofield said Kitchens Plus had encountered financial difficulties as a result of what it called the current economic climate, including inflation and the pressure it placed on cost of finance for the firm's customers. The firm operates from a Team Valley base as well as five showrooms around the region, including sites in Gateshead, Durham, Hexham and Monkseaton.
