J E Beale Public Limited Company (00120002): administration
- Status
- Administration ended
- Administration began
- 2020-01-20
- Administrators
- William James Wright, Christopher Robert Pole
- Administrators' firm
- Interpath Advisory
- Incorporated
- 1912-02-01
- Location
- London
- Industry
- 47190 Other retail sale in non-specialised stores
Why it went into administration
- Property / lease costs
- Rising costs / inflation
- Funding withdrawn / unable to refinance
- Cash flow / liquidity pressure
From the administrators' statement
The Company was incorporated on 1 February 1912 and operated department stores in market-towns selling furniture, fashion, toys and cosmetics. Whilst the Company had a transactional online website, the majority of the Company’s sales were through its network of 23 departments stores, selling a mix of own bought and concession products.
In October 2018 Beale Limited completed a Management Buy Out (MBO) with the shares held by Portnard Limited and related companies being purchased by Brown Retail Holdings Limited, a company wholly owned by Anthony Brown, the CEO of the Group.
JEB had a total of 1030 employees. Of these, 99 were based at the Company’s head office in Bournemouth and the remaining 931 across the various stores.
Administrators' statement of proposals (2020-03-23) · Companies House register