Staff confusion as House of Fraser sold to Sports Direct

Lincoln’s House of Fraser is opening later than usual amid reports that House of Fraser has been sold to Sports Direct.

EY were appointed as administrators of the company before Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct bought the British department store for a reported £90 million.

As previously reported, Lincoln’s House of Fraser and the store in Grimsby are among 31 nationwide to face the chop in January 2019.

After reaching a settlement with its landlords it was revealed that plans were still on track, but the sale to Sports Direct could mean the Lincolnshire stores will survive.

House of Fraser’s Lincoln store is opening later on Friday, August 10. Photo: Joseph Verney for The Lincolnite

A notice in the Lincoln store window advised the store would open later at 11am on Friday, August 10.

Staff and customers at the Hull store were reportedly told to leave this morning.

129 staff members employed directly by the company or its concessions at the Lincoln store were notified when the CVA was first announced and will be supported throughout the process.

Some 149 staff members are affected at the Grimsby store.

Alan Hudson, Hunter Kelly, Colin Dempster and Craig Lewis from EY’s Restructuring team were appointed as Joint Administrators on the morning of August 10.

A statement from Alun Hudson said: “We have worked very closely with management, its advisors and creditors in recent weeks and are pleased that we have been able to successfully conclude a sale of the business in short timescales which preserves as many of the jobs of House of Frasers employees as possible.

“It was a challenging transaction to achieve in such a short period of time which will ensure continuity of the business and preserve the goodwill. We hope that this will give the business the stable financial platform that it requires to flourish in the current retail environment.”