EFFORTS TO find a buyer for the troubled furniture retailer Land of Leather have not been successful and the administrator to the chain has told staff in Britain and Ireland to prepare for store closures and job losses.

Accountancy firm Deloitte was appointed as administrator to the British chain on January 12th after its sales slumped and it failed to secure new financing.

On January 26th, 33 stores were closed, including four shops in Ireland, with the loss of 95 jobs.

In a statement yesterday, joint administrator Lee Manning said he had notified remaining employees of the risk of redundancy and store closures, should a buyer for the business not be found.

“While it has not yet been possible to sell Land of Leather, we continue to talk to interested parties and our goal remains to find a buyer for the business as a going concern,” he said.

“However, it is prudent to make contingency plans and we have notified all employees of the risk of redundancy and store closures, should a buyer for the business not be found.”

Meanwhile, staff at Land of Leather stores in Ireland have expressed concern about their jobs and the money they say is owed to them.

One Irish employee, who did not wish to be named, said staff had been told via a conference call yesterday that all shops in the chain would close “in the next few weeks”.

“We haven’t been given any firm details about what’s happening,” he said. “We doubt we’ll get the money we’re owed. There’s a lot of commission owed from the Christmas period.”

Mr Manning said he would be writing to customers with outstanding orders with an update within the next week and said the company aimed to fulfil as many existing orders as possible.

Land of Leather has outlets in Belfast, Newtownabbey, Newry, Derry, Swords, Limerick, Leopardstown, Athlone, Tralee, Bray, Kilkenny and Drogheda, as well as a warehouse in Dublin.